Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

One of the questions I get all the time is, "where should I go backpacking?" And while it's tempting to list off one of Oregon's best backpacking trips, I tend to give a different answer: try a wilderness.



Wilderness are federally-protected natural areas – thanks to the Wilderness Act of 1964 – where all motor-powered and mechanical travel is forbidden. Kayaking, rafting, climbing, skiing and horseback riding are all still allowed (among others), but generally speaking, hikers tend to have free rein.



Oregon has 47 official wilderness areas, and while not all have the same level of access (Oregon Islands, for example, is just a string of off-limits, offshore islands), most are large swaths of wild land, where hiking trails lead deep into Oregon’s forests, deserts and mountain slopes, remote backpacking campsites found scattered along the trail.

Some of the wilderness areas you may recognize (I’m looking at you, Opal Creek), while others might be foreign to even the most seasoned Oregon travelers. But these areas of Oregon wilderness offer that holy trinity of natural excursion: beautiful scenery, wildlife and complete isolation. They’re perfect places, in other words, for a backpacking adventure.

Before you go, be sure to check out a couple of our guides to hiking in Oregon: real dangers of the wilderness, and trail etiquette. And, as always, leave no trace when you're out enjoying nature. Nature offers us so much – it deserves our respect.

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Boulder Creek (Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service)

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Badger Creek

Location: Mount Hood

Acres: 28,915

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Black Canyon

Location: Eastern Oregon

Acres: 13,088

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Boulder Creek

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 19,911

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Bridge Creek (Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service)

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Bridge Creek

Location: Eastern Oregon

Acres: 5,337

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Bull of the Woods

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 36,869

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Clackamas

Location: Mount Hood

Acres: 9,465

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Diamond Peak (Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service)

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Copper Salmon

Location: Coast Range

Acres: 13,724

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Cummins Creek

Location: Coast Range

Acres: 9,026

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Diamond Peak

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 52,477

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Drift Creek (Jamie Hale/The Oregonian)

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Drift Creek

Location: Coast Range

Acres: 5,792

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Eagle Cap

Location: Northeast Oregon

Acres: 355,548

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Gearhart Mountain

Location: Southern Oregon

Acres: 22,587

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Hells Canyon (Jamie Hale/The Oregonian)

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Grassy Knob

Location: Southern Oregon

Acres: 17,176

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Hells Canyon

Location: Northeast Oregon

Acres: 131,337 (Oregon), 217,613 (total)

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Kalmiopsis

Location: Southern Oregon

Acres: 179,550

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Lower White River (Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service)

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Lower White River

Location: Mount Hood

Acres: 2,871

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Mark O. Hatfield

Location: Columbia Gorge

Acres: 65,420

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Menagerie

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 4,952

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Mill Creek (Jamie Hale/The Oregonian)

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Middle Santiam

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 8,845

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Mill Creek

Location: Eastern Oregon

Acres: 17,173

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Monument Rock

Location: Eastern Oregon

Acres: 20,210

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Mount Jefferson (Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service)

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Mount Hood

Location: Mount Hood

Acres: 64,742

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Mount Jefferson

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 108,909

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Mount Thielsen

Location: Southern Oregon

Acres: 55,151

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Mount Washington (Terry Richard/The Oregonian)

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Mount Washington

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 54,410

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Mountain Lakes

Location: Southern Oregon

Acres: 23,036

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North Fork John Day

Location: Northeast Oregon

Acres: 120,998

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Opal Creek (Jamie Francis/The Oregonian)

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North Fork Umatilla

Location: Northeast Oregon

Acres: 20,225

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Opal Creek

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 20,774

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Oregon Badlands

Location: Eastern Oregon

Acres: 29,182

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Roaring River (Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian)

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Oregon Islands

Location: Oregon Coast

Acres: 925

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Red Buttes

Location: Southern Oregon

Acres: 3,777 (Oregon), 20,133 (total)

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Roaring River

Location: Mount Hood

Acres: 36,548

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Rogue-Umpqua Divide (Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service)

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Rock Creek

Location: Coast Range

Acres: 7,273

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Rogue–Umpqua Divide

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 35,749

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Salmon–Huckleberry

Location: Mount Hood

Acres: 62,061

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Sky Lakes (Ian Malkasian/The Oregonian)

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Sky Lakes

Location: Southern Oregon

Acres: 113,687

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Soda Mountain

Location: Southern Oregon

Acres: 24,707

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Spring Basin

Location: Eastern Oregon

Acres: 6,404

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Steens Mountain (Jamie Hale/The Oregonian)

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Steens Mountain

Location: Eastern Oregon

Acres: 170,202

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Strawberry Mountain

Location: Eastern Oregon

Acres: 69,350

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Table Rock

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 5,784

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Three Arch Rocks (Doug Beghtel/The Oregonian)

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Three Arch Rocks

Location: Oregon Coast

Acres: 15

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Three Sisters

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 283,619

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Waldo Lake

Location: Central Cascades

Acres: 36,868

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Wild Rogue (Jamie Hale/The Oregonian)

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Wenaha–Tucannon

Location: Northeast Oregon

Acres: 65,266 (Oregon), 176,737 (total)

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Wild Rogue

Location: Southern Oregon

Acres: 35,221

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NOTE: The exact acreage of a given wilderness can vary widely. These figures are all from wilderness.net, a collaboration between the University of Montana and several federal land-management agencies.



--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB

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