What to you is "WILDERNESS".......???

[Whiskey_Fish]

This is a joke. Thought I should preface.

As a Wyoming resident... "Members Only" comes to mind.

 

[Billy Goat]

What do you mean when say, "mapped"....? Do you consider aerial photos converted to a crude map to be mapped, if no human was on the ground.....???

So, what I would consider wilderness is an area that is unknown, untouched.

Like what original explorers went out and trekked and was untouched. However pretty much everything had been touched in some form before Europeans where present in NA. Natives burned much of the landscape, so only in the far north would you find areas that were unmanipulated.


That's why I say it doesn't exist.


Now we have areas that are labeled as "wilderness ", but what I would consider for the most part doesn't exist.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

For me, the Bob was as close to wilderness as I will ever get in my lifetime. No motorized anything. No electricity. No running water. No cell service unless you were on top of a high pass. Definitely not untouched by man, but if you got injured 18 miles in where we were, you'd be SOL as there is only one tiny air strip in the whole place.

So to me, my definition of wilderness is any wild place that cannot be accessed with modern motorized equipment that has dire consequences for the unprepared or injured. That and it must have spectacular views as well. LOL!

 

[fatlander]

I’ve been in little no name canyons 1 ridge over from main roads that seemed more like wilderness than most of the designated wilderness areas I’ve been in.


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[Doc Holliday]

No trails on the ground, no planes in the sky....no sight, sound, or evidence of mankind whatsoever. Only place I have experienced this was in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

 

[4rcgoat]

At this point,as long as they can keep the damn motorized vehicles out, ill consider it wilderness

 

[downthepipe]

Easy - "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammelled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain”

 

[GSPHUNTER]

In the East, you could be in for a surprise if you are seeking solitude in the wilderness. This was what I found at an Eastern wilderness trailhead a couple summers ago.

View attachment 361855

 

[cnelk]

Wilderness to me is where most NonRes go to hunt elk... along with recent burn areas

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Middle of BFE.

 

[WCB]

Do some guys here think there are actually areas untouched by man...by some definitions here there has been no wilderness for 1,000s and 1,000s of years. Would you guys not consider the rocky mountains or hell the dakotas and great plains wilderness in the 1700 and early 1800s?

Wilderness is the Bob Marshal and those places like it...non motorized foot/horse traffic only where the vast percentage of it can not be touched within a day hike of a trailhead or other motorized trail or road. Pack trails being semi maintained by saw or axe has been happening since horses were utilized and even before "indian trails" were highly prevalent. being untouched by man is way too far of a reach.

 

[Billy Goat]

Do some guys here think there are actually areas untouched by man...by some definitions here there has been no wilderness for 1,000s and 1,000s of years. Would you guys not consider the rocky mountains or hell the dakotas and great plains wilderness in the 1700 and early 1800s?

Wilderness is the Bob Marshal and those places like it...non motorized foot/horse traffic only where the vast percentage of it can not be touched within a day hike of a trailhead or other motorized trail or road. Pack trails being semi maintained by saw or axe has been happening since horses were utilized and even before "indian trails" were highly prevalent. being untouched by man is way too far of a reach.

Many areas had influence from things that are now gone.

So my idea of wilderness also is native, much of that landscape that is wilderness has changed, some because the animals aren't there, some because of the things that are there, many things being both native and non-native invasives.

Far north is still largely unchanged, but many ecosystems in the wilderness areas have changed and are different than what they would have been.



Something as simple as the earthworm has made big changes in areas.


I can see areas of the Rockies being wilderness in the 17-1800's, but the Plains had been routinely burned by Native Americans, that's a natural process, but something they started to control and use to their advantage, manipulating the ecosytem for their advantage.



So we can have a modern wilderness, and it's as close as it will get, but isn't actually a true wilderness in my eyes.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

In the East, you could be in for a surprise if you are seeking solitude in the wilderness. This was what I found at an Eastern wilderness trailhead a couple summers ago.

View attachment 361855

As soon as somebody steps on WWII round that crowd will clear out..Wilderness is definitely not a superfund site. Off trail hiking is not recommended...

 

[Newtosavage]

Wherever I decide it is. When I was a kid growing up, sometimes overgrown 1/4 acre lots were "wilderness" to me.

Life is what you make it.

 

[BAKPAKR]

As soon as somebody steps on WWII round that crowd will clear out..Wilderness is definitely not a superfund site. Off trail hiking is not recommended...

My friend found what we are pretty sure was an exploded artillery round this fall while hiking off the beaten path.

 

[mdp22]

Off trail
Can't hear or see roads, civilization etc
No cell reception
Far enough in staying the night is almost necessary
As few people as possible
Little to no sign of purple having been there

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I find this type of environment quite often while Coues deer hunting in SW NM. These areas are barren and rugged, the type of terrain that the typical visitor to a wilderness area would bypass. No white capped mountains, no hiking trails, no beautiful mountain streams, etc. You could get in trouble pretty quick if you don't prepare adequately, water, snakes, disabling injury that prevents movement could end you out there.

 

[Sourdough]

So to me, my definition of wilderness is any wild place that cannot be accessed with modern motorized equipment that has dire consequences for the unprepared or injured. That and it must have spectacular views as well. LOL!

I have spent decades piloting small planes all over Alaska and "most" of or "much" of western Canada. That total land mass is likely close to the total land mass of all lower 48 states. And your description of wilderness (for you) would include over 95% of that area, maybe 98%. Just imagine if 98% of the lower 48 states was as you described wilderness.

 

[Newtosavage]

I find this type of environment quite often while Coues deer hunting in SW NM. These areas are barren and rugged, the type of terrain that the typical visitor to a wilderness area would bypass. No white capped mountains, no hiking trails, no beautiful mountain streams, etc. You could get in trouble pretty quick if you don't prepare adequately, water, snakes, disabling injury that prevents movement could end you out there.

that's a beautiful and (thankfully) overlooked part of the US in my opinion.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

My friend found what we are pretty sure was an exploded artillery round this fall while hiking off the beaten path.

I worked for the Corps of Engineers while going to Marshall...spent a couple summers doing superfund work there in the late 90s..no way I would hike off trail in there...60 and 81mm shells are still all over the place, we didn't even search off trail..Besides much better, less crowded places in WV.

 

[z987k]

I definitely think Arctic National Wildlife Refuge fits my definition of what wilderness is and its one of my favorite places to hunt. Generally everywhere I sheep hunt is quite wild as well.

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Yup.
If there's a hunter within 50 miles of me, I'm not interested in hunting there.