States with most remote backcountry

[Customweld]

The concept of good hunting is directly related to wilderness and distance from a road is, in my mind, a flawed program. I have had areas with multiple herds of elk for years and then a fire either elimonates habitat or creates habitat and its time to start over. A couple of really hard, long winters and all your herds can move, die or split up. Because of the flexibility of elk herds, every year for every area is a new program. Weather can make or break the success of every season.

I've said it before, but there are more elk in a 100 acre corn field in Southern Idaho than the combined 3.5 million acres of the FC and Selway Wilderness.

 

[LongWayAround]

Poser nailed it.

I spent a few weeks last September in a draw unit with extensive wilderness areas.

I barely saw other hunters where I chose to hang out. I took a drive one day to check out the trailheads. They were packed. Backpackers, hunters, horse trailers. The trails funneling all of those guys to the same areas. Good luck.

You might get five miles from your truck, but you probably just got five miles closer to the next access.

 

[TaperPin]

An awful lot of folks in western states have horses and there’s not a lot of difference in hunting pressure between a forest service road and many horse trails. There are pockets that are inconvenient to horse and Ford Bronco, and that’s as close to remote backcountry as you’ll get.

 

[Jbehredt]

Its a very overblown/exaggerated idea that is often suggested by hunters. I believe that it has been posted on Rockslide before that there are only 4 areas in the lower 48 where you can get more than 8 miles from a TH/access point. If this is true, I live right next to one such area and I can assure you there are hunters all over the wilderness area. A handful of obvious access points "get you in deep" by forcing you into a canyon trail for 8-10 miles before the terrain opens up. I assure you these trials are full of hunter's broken dreams. Going for a casual hike on these trials during archery season is almost a sport unto itself if you enjoy seeing a trailhead full of "rigs" with hunting stickers and expensive coolers and a trail full of guys decked out in the latest and greatest mopping along after hiking 10 miles one way in to area full of hunters where they have effectively zero chance of seeing any elk and despite all of their effort, turns out 10 miles with a heavy pack is a lot more difficult than they anticipated and they would have been entirely incapable of packing an elk out on their own. But wait, there's more: drop camps are at every single alpine lake.


The more time I spend here, the more exploring and scouting I do, the more comical the efforts of many hunters becomes: The vast majority try the exact same strategies over and over again, year after year in the same exact locations using the same exact THs and trails and ever single year there is a new crop of hunters doing that and they think they are doing doing something that no one else is willing to do because its 8 miles back. I recognize that you can only know what you know and a certain percentage have to fail, but its interesting that so many people think that they are thinking outside of the box when they are literally driving within a 1/4th of a mile of elk to hike 10 miles back where there are no elk at all.

Shh

 

[406flyfish]

The Bob. If I remember correctly, it’s the most remote spot in the lower 48. 18 miles to the nearest road.

 

[CorbLand]

The Bob. If I remember correctly, it’s the most remote spot in the lower 48. 18 miles to the nearest road.

I always thought the Frank was the most remote?

I know that if there wasnt the road between the Frank and Selway, those two combined would dwarf pretty much everything.

If you haven’t spent time in the Selway, I would try to make it happen. Get back in there and it’s amazing how small you really feel.

 

[mntnguide]

Most remote place in the lower 48 from a road sits in NW WY. I ride my horses there almost every summer. 30+miles from a road in any direction. The Frank is nasty and rugged and remote, but has access from a lot of points, and has airstrips all over.

 

[406flyfish]

I stand corrected, it’s not the most remote.

According to most sources, the most remote GPS spot in the lower 48 United States is located within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, specifically a location called "Hawks Rest," which is situated over 30 miles from any accessible road, deep within the Teton Wilderness area.

 

[EastHumboldt]

I know where is the secret place, …. far, far from the madding crowd! I’m not telling anyone where it is for obvious reasons.

 

[AG8]

I stand corrected, it’s not the most remote.

According to most sources, the most remote GPS spot in the lower 48 United States is located within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, specifically a location called "Hawks Rest," which is situated over 30 miles from any accessible road, deep within the Teton Wilderness area.

Herein lies an important point to the OP. Hawks rest IS the most ‘remote’, but is also home to a small town sized outfitter camp. The second most ‘remote’ spot is in SW CO, which as referenced earlier, is overrun in its own right by recreational traffic, as it is effectively a destination onto itself because of such distinctions. The game is to find the point with the fewest visitors, which can’t really be seen with maps/e-scouting. That said, if we consider visitors as opposed to roads/2-tracks etc., my answer in the lower 48 is easily NV…

 

[idahodave]

After Alaska it's Idaho. CA has more "wilderness"....but it's small tracts of land the environmentalists "protected" in many cases and not all that remote.

The Frank and Bitterroot-Selway Wilderness areas in particular will make you feel small in a hurry and there is a good chance you'll have most given areas to yourself. There are plenty of "trails" on USFS maps, but the Wilderness trails are literally disappearing off the map from lack of use as it's the least utilized land in Idaho due to the remoteness.

Dave

 

[timekiller13]

I can be more remote in North Carolina than I can in Colorado, Wyoming etc.

These places may not be 5+ miles from a road, but I guarantee you that you won’t see another human when you get back there.

And I’m not telling you where they are.

 

[Snowwolfe]

No doubt in my mind, Alaska.
I can go hundred of miles in a boat, atv, or snowmobile and not see a road, town, or a fence.