Cloud Peak Wilderness Area

Cloud Peak Wilderness preserves many sharp summits and towering sheer rock faces standing above glacier-carved U-shaped valleys. Named for the tallest mountain in Bighorn National Forest—Cloud Peak at 13,167 feet—the Wilderness is blanketed in snow for a large part of the year. Most of the higher ground doesn’t show bare ground until July. On the east side of Cloud Peak itself, a deeply inset cirque holds the last remaining glacier in this range. Several hundred beautiful lakes, many offering excellent trout fishing, cover the landscape and drain into miles of trout streams. The Cloud Peak Wilderness is part of the 106 million acre National Wilderness Preservation System. This System of lands provides clean air, water, and habitat critical for rare and endangered plants and animals. In wilderness, you can enjoy challenging recreational activities like hiking, backpacking, climbing, kayaking, canoeing, rafting, horse packing, bird watching, stargazing, and extraordinary opportunities for solitude. You plan an important role in helping to “secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness” as called for by the Congress of the United States through the Wilderness Act of 1964. Use Leave No Trace techniques when visiting the Cloud Peak Wilderness to ensure protection of this unique area.

Unless otherwise specified, no motorized equipment or mechanical transport is allowed. This is true for all federal lands managed as designated wilderness.

Courtesy: U.S. Forest Service