Shenandoah Wilderness

 

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• Wilderness Connect
• Leave No Trace
• NPS Wilderness

A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.

–The Wilderness Act of 1964

 

In 1976, Congress designated areas of Shenandoah National Park as the Shenandoah Wilderness.

NPS

In 1964, the U.S. Congress passed a law known as the Wilderness Act, which created a National Wilderness Preservation System to provide an "enduring resource of wilderness" for present and future generations. This law designated 9-million acres of federal public lands as wilderness, and subsequent acts of Congress have added additional wilderness areas to the National Wilderness Preservation System. Today, over 106-million acres across the country are protected as wilderness, the highest form of protection for our public lands.

Shenandoah National Park contains 79,579 acres of congressionally designated wilderness, nearly 40% of the park’s acreage. This makes the Shenandoah Wilderness the third largest wilderness area east of the Mississippi River and one of the closest wilderness areas to a major population center. The wilderness offers exceptional unconfined recreation opportunities and the chance to experience natural quiet, solitude, dark night skies, and nature untrammeled. This wilderness, which was once settled, farmed, and logged, stands as a symbol of the regenerative ability of the deciduous forests of the Appalachian Range. Many park trails are in designated wilderness, and most overlooks allow you to view wilderness along Skyline Drive.

Extra care should be taken when exploring Shenandoah's wilderness. Visitors should practice Leave No Trace principles so that these special places are protected for future generations of explorers!

 

Duration:

16 minutes, 58 seconds

Join Ranger Kevin on a stroll through the wild of Shenandoah, and learn what exactly makes it "wilderness."

Watch on YouTube

 

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  Shenandoah Wilderness: Wilderness Song

  Professional songwriters Pops Walker and Kipyn Martin discover music in the natural sounds and landscapes of the Shenandoah Wilderness. Experience the lyricism of nature through the eyes and ears of these two musicians as they compose original works directly inspired by this wild land.

  Duration:

  6 minutes, 42 seconds