December 7, 1999

By Harry O'Toole

Ever hike in an Official Wilderness ? Within a designated wilderness you are offered a sense of serenity; here you are free of the harrowing meeting with a four wheeler sharing the trail or the illusion of wilderness being jolted by a jeep grinding its way along a logging road. In Missouri there are seven designated wilderness areas in the Mark Twain National Forest. They range from 4000 to 16,000 acres in contiguous parcels of forest, with no bisecting roads. Within a hundred miles from St. Louis there is one outstanding area, the Bell Mountain Wilderness. From the trail head on the north border, a low grade two and a half mile climb leads to the top of Bell Mountain.. The trail head on the west border offers a steep shorter route to the Bell Mountain ridge. In deep winter months this high ridge is prime for exploring; the leaves are gone, opening up vast views of the distance hills shrouded in purple haze. The Wilderness System areas are only on land in federal ownership, that is national forests, national parks, etc., not state park, forest or conservation land. These are large tracts that have been selected as having wilderness qualities; such as no roads, structures, or other development that distort the natural condition. Motorizes and mechanical devices are not permitted; this includes mountain bikes. Our adjoining states of Arkansas and Illinois also have wilderness areas in the five to ten thousand acre range. The huge expanses of wilderness are in our western states, some of these are over a half million acres in size.

Maps of Missouri’s wilderness areas can be received from the Mark Twain National Forest office. The bulk of the Wilderness System is in the National Forest. For informatin on wilderness areas in the National Forest, contact the Department of Agriculture.

Harry O'Toole