Favorite wilderness area?

[oldranger]

I'm with Dave54! The other issue is that with each new wilderness Mt. Bikers and OHV users are often squeezed out of areas that they had been using for years. They then pressure congress and land use managers loosen standards for use of Wilderness Areas. Can't really blame them though I am agin em.

Favorite Wilderness: Yosemite's wilderness, especially the Upper Merced Portion. Also partial to untrailed portions of Sawtooth Wilderness in Idaho. Seem to get less use than untrailed portions of Wilderness in the Sierra.

[dave54]

I'm with Dave54! The other issue is that with each new wilderness Mt. Bikers and OHV users are often squeezed out of areas that they had been using for years. They then pressure congress and land use managers loosen standards for use of Wilderness Areas...

I ran across that very issue with Sen Boxer's California Wilderness Bill about 15 years ago. When I asked the California Wilderness Coalition (now Calwild) why certain areas were included they told me because it has mountain bike trails. Fortunately, the bill died in committee and a few of the listed areas eventually became Wilderness on their own -- the areas that were most suitable and worthy of Wilderness designation. Not all currently undeveloped land should be Wilderness.

[SSSdave]

As posed, I saw it as a vague question due to the term "favorite". Members can interpret the question in two ways that do not quite mean the same thing.

One is, what wilderness have you (favored) visiting the most?
Second is, which wilderness do you like as in enjoy visiting the most?

I answered the question per most visits because I suspected most would conversely just blurt out the wilderness they enjoyed, liked, the most even though they may have visited (favored) say a closer wilderness much more because it was simply more convenient. The term "favor" is related to but not quite the same as "like" as favor can indicate a choice for action. Accordingly a wilderness like Ansel Adams or John Muir with their spectacular world class alpine scenery are likely to be enjoyed much more say than a local wilderness like Lassen Volcanic that a person nearby living in Redding might otherwise visit the most.

If the question was instead "Which wilderness that you have visited, do you enjoy the most when visiting?" then it would receive the kind of responses probably intended. The reason I included "that you have visited", is because that eliminates responses from those that expect they would probably like a popular spectacular wilderness but have actually just heard or read about wherever without ever having visited.

In larger wilderness areas, there are usually significant types of different trails and environments one might visit. If one were confined to less spectacular, less interesting, less visited trails, the value would decrease greatly. Most of us thus choose to visit areas within given wildernesses that we expect to enjoy the most whether that is because it has a lake with terrific trout fishing, spectacular scenery, or awesome peaks to bag, etc. John Muir Wilderness in particular covers a vast area with a large number of elevations and environments so one might more specifically ask, "Which basin or area of John Muir Wilderness do you enjoy visiting the most?" Or more generally "Which basin or area in a wilderness do you enjoy visiting the most?"

For that later variation of the question, I would point to the Bear Creek basin in JMW that I've backpacked into ten times.

[Wandering Daisy]

First, Wilderness Areas are created for more than our recreation. The extra layer of protection can be justified for the purpose of wildlife habitat, unique vegetation and watershed protection. It also seems that current thinking considers connectivity of wilderness for the purpose of wildlife migration. Also endangered species considerations. There are however some that are probably listed (or rejected) due to political pressure. As our politics wander farther from science-based decisions, I suspect there will be new pressures to list or de-list areas in the future.

My favorite area, wilderness or not, is high alpine country that still has some vegetation. I am not fond of stark "nothing-but-talus and rubble". I really love glacial U-shaped valleys, preferably with the remnants of the glaciers still there. I am with John Muir as far as his observation of "range of light". I prefer clean light-colored rock, such as big granite walls and peaks to volcanic mountain ranges. Although I am impressed with the desert SW, including the Grand Canyon, Zion, Escalante, I am not comfortable in the desert so hesitate to do many longer trips in that environment. I get a little freaked out by lack of water.

I visit Yosemite a lot because it has the above criteria and is close to me. But I prefer the high Sierra but cannot really say an exact wilderness. If I were told I could only go into one, it would be SEKI. And obviously I love the Wind Rivers, not only because they are a "mini" Sierra, but also because less crowds and no permits required. Although I like to fish, I seldom pick a trip simply for the fishing. Fishing is frosting on the cake.

[dave54]

The Wilderness Act alludes to the scientific uses of Wilderness, but I believe that was an additional selling point added to the bill later in the process. The Forest Service long ago realized most Wilderness Areas (Wild Areas, prior to the 1964 Act) were not really suitable as research baselines to measure ecological change. So Research Natural Areas were created in 1927 to fill that role.
People keep saying Wilderness is the highest level of protection for land. It is not. RNAs are far more restrictive than Wilderness designation.