Northeastern Wilderness High Points

Showing Alexandre Lauzon's first ascent dates for climbed peaks

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List Description

Wilderness areas are large tracts of land where resource extraction, roads, structures, and motors of any kind are forbidden. The only intrusion of man permitted is foot travel and low-impact camping. They represent the last sanctuaries of the primeval world left in our developed country, and most of them are in the high mountains.

This list shows the highest points in designated Wilderness Areas in New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. These include the federally designated Wilderness Areas on National Forest and Wildlife Refuge land, plus the New York state Department of Conservation Wilderness Areas in the Adirondacks and Catskills. These two ranges are unique in the US in being managed by a state agency, not a federal one, and the state wildernesses are functionally equivalent to the federal ones. So it made sense to include their high points on this list.

Note that the boundaries of many Wilderness Areas are indistinct and not always shown accurately on topographic maps. In addition, many Wilderness high points are "liners" or "slope points" located where a boundary is excluding a summit area that has road or tower development. So finding the exact point for many of these summits may be difficult, and being sure of reaching them may require independent research. In some cases, where a wilderness boundary came very close to a prominent undeveloped summit, that summit is assumed to be the wilderness high point even if the official boundary may be a few feet away.