what's the most isolated spot in the lower 48?

Where is it? It seems to be somewhere in the Montana/Idaho area, like the bob mashall wilderness in montana, or maybe the selway bitter root wilderness in Idaho? I have a great longing to visit a truly isolated spot and feel true solitude. Nebraska just isn't cutting it I've been on a few mountain trips with my wife, and can't seem to get away from other people. On our last trip we hiked 7 miles into the mountains in new mexico, only to find another person camping 200 yards from where we were, and saw plenty of people on the trail. Not looking for somewhere to live, just somewhere to visit and do a backpacking trip (obviously, anyplace you can visit without having to do some serious hiking to isn't isolated.)

Les's yard in Minn.--keep off his yard.

It's like that everywhere I have been. Tough to get away from people unless the weather is bad.

Cherry county Nebraska.

loosegoose -

For the past 40 years I've quested for what I consider true wild areas. I have my own definition of it, but that would take up far too much space in this forum. Basically, it means going into a place (by boat, Supercub, etc.) and spending at least 5 days exploring (not confined to camp), traveling, seeking, and not see any evidence of modern mankind. Each affront to my senses (a spent cartridge, an axe mark on a tree, a boot print) receives negative points, depending on its severity. In my life, I've actually found 2 such places, one in Alaska and one in Far Eastern Russia. Many of the places I go come close, but no cigar. Looking up on a clear night is exempted, as there's no place on earth from which you can't see satellites.

The largest roadless area in the Lower-48 is in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, just to the west of me. I've spent many, many days (months) in there, and from my perspective, it doesn't even come close to being a true wild area (yeah, I'll admit to being a wild-area snob). The Frank is 2.367 million acres, the Bob (Bob Marshall Wilderness) is slightly over 1 million.

Good luck on your search. A wild area is how you define it.

Jack

If I recall you camped in the Pecos, right? That is a very popular area for fishing, hunting and camping. Next time you come here let me know in advance and I can give you some remote areas to go to. Also it depends on time of year. The end of fall through late winter you will be able to go more places with a lot less people.

Desert Valley? Salt flats?

Drive west when you hit Winnemucca turn north go to the Steens Mts stop and walk its there called the Oregon outback

Hmmm, I can think of a few in the Upper Midwest ;
BWCA ; Quetico ; Isle Royale

Have fun with this site: Project Remote

This subject has also fascinated me.

Whats that red dot in Cherry county mean?

It may not be the most isolated spot, but the Okanogan- Wenatchee National Forest, which is 4 million plus acres on the East side of the Cascade Mountains has to be pretty close. I drove in it for over 4 hours without seeing a single human dwelling.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/okawen/

Many people believe bigfoot lives there. I don't believe bigfoot is very likely to be real, but that chunk of land is big and desolate enough, that I would be only mildly surprised if a bigfoot was found there, compared to anywhere else in the US.

Keith

If we're talking about rain and cool weather being remote it would be Coaling Alabama.

Multiple sources say the River of No Return Wilderness Area in Idaho.

Any of you cowboys been there?

Them words precede about every severe weather report we have here!

Red dot least populated county in that State I'd guess?

I really thought somewhere in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, or North Dakota sure seems like when you drive though some of those states you don’t see anyone for miles.

New York city if I had my way

Wherever I am when I say the wrong thing to the Mrs.

Mike

They have a Youtube channel it appears. Thanks. Neat stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/user/RemoteFootprints/videos

The most isolated spot in the lower 48 is my ex-wife’s heart!!

Indeed, Jack.

Lots of memories for me in mention of the wild areas of Idaho and Montana. Not a few of those places I have enjoyed also on foot for as much as ten days at a time. You do find places that are dear to the heart and look forward to seeing them again, if not just residing in the heart forever.

I have a place like that up against the China Wall , by the White river . Off the trail , a place I found all my own. Not the most remote spot by comparison, but some days in from all points on the compass, unless one takes a bush plane into the interior runway that doubles as pasture for outfitter and Forest Service mules and horses. A place you only wish to share with the one dear to your heart.

One thing Ive found , on being in places like that, you are able to decipher why you crave the remote places ....it is a place in the heart and mind that wants to escape society, of which we have the least in common .

Not all people ...and so we find enjoyment in sharing such places with select few of like mind.

We cherish the ones dearest to us , which well can only include the one we are in love with , and want by our side always, followed by close friends and relatives , depending on the individual.

It is indeed, Jack, how one defines a wild area. For sheer elbow room, your point is well made . For this country, the Idaho/Montana/Alaska places are my choice as well.

Lots of cowpokes been there and never returned

Chicago on Fathers day

now thats funny right there

One needs to remember that there's a air strip in the Bob Marshall as Sharon mentioned my cousin has used it a time or two if memory serves me correctly.
I've not been there myself but my favorite place where cellphones become a expensive watch is in eastern Mt and I'll keep the exact location to myself so it stays that way . And heaven help you if while you're out there it rains or snows stay where you are and wait for it to either dry out or freeze.

Buy a trip to the moon. I hear there is only one man up there.

If you can't get lost, (or hide a body) in NE, your just not trying.


I buy fur from Alberta to Albuquerque, and The great Salt lake to Council Bluffs.


In all those acres there's nowhere so awesomely alone as the sandhills.

Allen, there are two of those interior pastoral air strips in the Bob proper .....one is used most often, the other, not too much at all . At least it was'nt when I went on my trips there.

The one I referred to is the one least used.

As Jack so well described, a constellation of description which would fill the forum in sheer beauty .

This describes well what I'm looking for. Western Nebraska is huge and desolate, I've done a road trip through there with my wife, and drove on plenty of roads where I played "zombie apocalypse" by driving down the middle of the road or in the left lane as fast as I wanted for miles. But most of Western Nebraska is privately owned, with cows everywhere. And if I'm on a road, it's not the kind of isolated I'm looking for. I'm looking for true wilderness, a place with no trace of mankind, where I'm as far from civilization as possible, a place that's untouched and mostly unseen by man, a place that's the same as its been since before civilization.

Yep.
Where I'm at no service, one way in one way out, and you are right Allen, things are very remote. I like it that way!

Just curious about why you are limiting yourself to the L48 ?

When are you thinking of doing this ?

I always thought it was the Thorofare country in Wyoming.

Places here you could watch your dog run away for 3 days!

I got to thinking back to when my cousins and I talked about his trips into the Bob and remembered that there were two airstrips there . It's been awhile since we've got a chance to visit since they moved to Alaska .
Another friend of mine just spent close to 3 weeks there with his packstring a fun trip in my way of thinking.

I also have heard the Thorofare is the most isolated area in the lower 48 based on distance from roads and no air strips. I know several guides from that area and the stories they tell are outstanding.

the big red PA dot is over my house on that map.no cell service here either thankfully.

I thought you were west of that

maybe a little but its close.

It's gotta be the lower 48 because I want to be able to drive there without half the trip spent driving It wouldn't be soon, maybe in a year and a half or so, so I've got time to think about it and plan. I have a primal urge of sorts to experience complete isolation. I'm looking to do a "vision quest" of sorts, to go and spend a week or so by myself in complete solitude and spend time with myself and figure some things out and come back different. I'm hoping to find somewhere where I can hike in and set up camp (even if it takes 2 days to get there), and stay in camp 4-5 days exploring the area but not moving camp, and then return home. Of course I want to explore the beauty of the area, but mostly I want to spend some time with myself in complete solitude and learn about myself in ways I haven't had time or ability to do in the past.

There are several places in Cherry County you can definitely get isolated. McKelvie National Forest is one but its grassland, not forest. You can camp overnight. Valentine National Wildlife refuge and Ft Niobrara refuges also, but cant camp overnight. And it is Nebraska, so plan carefully according to season of the year and watch the forecast!

Great Dismal Swamp in N.C. could get lonesome, and dangerous. Snakes, skeeters, bears, wolves, and swamp. Plenty hot in the summer too. The Air Force and Navy might also drop bombs on you.

NC has wolves ?

Beleave it or not. The same thing might happen here in the New Jersey Pine Barrens 1.1 million acres

I was going to post this also. You can get lost so bad that might not find your way out . There is a swamp in MA near the boarder of CT that is the same way . Forgot what the name of that swap. But there was skeleton was found in that one with it have the guns still in the hands.

Big Bend region of Texas. It is vast and largely untouched. You can watch your dog runaway for three days in some places, it’s so flat and Barron. Other places are mountains and canyons.

Flying is pretty fast these days. You can get dropped in most anywhere you choose and walk to your heart's content. I know just the spot for your vision quest !! You'll never see a soul

North Carolina has red wolves, though it looks like they are probably all hybrids with coyotes and may all have some domestic dog DNA too.

Keith

One area in the east where you can get lost for a bit is the Everglades/Ten Thousand Islands area. I guarantee if you were plopped down somewhere in the lower Shark River Slough area you'd be remote. This corner of S.W. Florida is the only true wilderness found in the eastern U.S. If you go in by canoe it will take you two long days paddle to get there, ditto to return.....even if you hurry. Isolation galore, but you'll hardly be alone. There will be, depending of season, about a gazillion mosquitoes to keep you company. The wildlife spectacle that is the S.W. Everglades is overwhelming also, especially the bird life. Watch for 'gators, 'crocs, cottonmouths, diamondbacks, coral snakes, pytho.............well, you know.

They found my spots.

CYR Swamp ,
Marquette county
U.P.

You won't be alone, but Google Forrest Finn treasure then spend a week trying to find it.

The most isolated spot in the U.S. is Washington D.C. Nothing but putrid swamp full of snakes and other slimey creatures. Completely disconnected from the rest of the country.
The next revolution should be to overthrow Washington D.C. Behind bars for all of those, except those that can prove they never told a lie.

PIKE RIVER ask
"Multiple sources say the River of No Return Wilderness Area in Idaho.

Any of you cowboys been there?"

YEP, I HAVE RODE THAT COUNTRY SOME. BACK IN THE 60's WHEN I WAS A YOUNG MAN I RODE DOWN IN THAT SALMON RIVER BREAKS COUNTRY WITH A FRIEND. HE WAS WORKING FOR A RANCHER TO GATHERING CATTLE TO BRING THEM OUT FOR SALE AND TO TAKE TO THE WINTER PASTURE. I JUST WENT ALONG TO HELP AND TO SEE MORE OF THE COUNTRY. I HAD MULE DEER HUNTED DOWN THERE EVERY FALL WITH MY MOM, DAD, GRANDDAD AND BROTHERS FROM THE LATE 50'S. WE WENT DOWN THERE TO SHOOT MULIES TO FEED US THAT WINTER. "BEEF IS FOR SELLING, DEER AND ELK WERE FOR EATIN'" THAT WAS PRETTY MUCH HOW THINGS WERE BACK THEN. WE ELK HUNTED THE LOCHSA (PRONOUNCED LOCK SAW) RIVER DRAINAGE. THAT WAS BEFORE THERE WAS HIGHWAY 12 GOING UP THE LOCHSA INTO MONTANA. (THE LOCHSA / SELWAY WILDERNESS AREA BUTTS UP AGAINST THE FRANK CHURCH. I HUNTED IT BEFORE ANY OF IT WAS A DESIGNATED WILDERNESS AREA.

I STILL HUNT THE SALMON RIVER A LITTLE, PRIMARILY FOR BEARS AND COUGARS WITH HOUNDS. THE BIG HERDS OF MULE DEER DOWN THERE ARE GONE AND HAVE BEEN SINCE THE EARLY 70'S. IT IS FROM THE LACK OF PREDATOR MANAGEMENT, AFTER THE REMOVAL OF 1080'. COYOTES WERE THE PRIMARY FACTOR IN MULE DEER DECLINE AND THE REASON THEY HAVE NOT COME BACK.
THE BIG "BACK COUNTRY" ELK HERDS IN THE LOCHSA, SELWAY AND SALMON RIVERS ARE GONE. THAT IS ALSO THE SAME PROBLEM, PREDATORS! IT STARTED WITH LACK OF PREDATOR MANAGEMENT AND OVER HUNTING BACK IN THE 60's & 70's. WITH LOWER ELK NUMBERS FROM EXCESSIVE HUNTER HARVEST AND THE INCREASING OF PREDATORS ( BEARS & COUGARS) BECAUSE OF THE BAN ON 1080 IN THE EARLY 60'S.
AFTER THE BAN OF 1080 THE ELK HERD NUMBERS KEPT BEING PUSHED LOWER AND LOWER. THEN IN THE 90'S WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CANADIAN GREY WOLF (WHICH HAD NEVER BEEN HERE THEY DESTROYED THE 70 LB. TIMBER WOLVES THAT WERE HERE; WHICH WERE A TRUE "THREATENED" SPECIES.) WITH THE DUMPING OF THE WOLVES INTO IDAHO THE ELK AND MOOSE POPULATION NOSE DIVED AND THEY WILL NEVER COMEBACK. [IT IS BIOLOGICALLY CALLED A PREDATOR PIT" ] THE UNGULATE POPULATION CAN NOT INCREASE ENOUGH BECAUSE OF THE LOW UNGULATE NUMBERS AND THE HIGH NUMBER OF PREDATORS WILL ALWAYS KEEP THEM TOO LOW. SO NOW IT IS NO LONGER HUNTER HARVEST OR FEED IT IS PLAINLY JUST TOO MANY PREDATORS!!

THERE IS PLENTY OF COUNTRY IN MUCH OF THAT AREA AND SEVERAL OTHERS I CAN GO TO THAT IF YOU GO THERE AND HIKE ALL DAY IN ANY DIRECTION AND YOU WILL NOT SEE ANOTHER PERSON OR THEIR TRACKS IN THE SNOW IF YOU GO THERE IN THE WINTER. SO ALL THOSE THAT WANT AN ISOLATION EXPERIENCE SNOWSHOE BACK UP INTO THE LOCHSA AND SELWAY AREAS OR INTO THE THE CHURCH FROM JANUARY THROUGH MAY AND YOU WON'T SEE ANYONE OR THEIR TRACKS FOR A MONTH MORE. IN MANY OF THESE PLACES YOU CAN NOW GO THERE AT ANY TIME OF THE YEAR AND NO MATTER WHEN YOU GO THERE ARE VERY FEW PEOPLE. WHY?? BECAUSE WHAT BROUGHT PEOPLE TO THE "BACK COUNTRY" WAS TO SEE OR HUNT THE ELK, MOOSE AND DEER THAT WERE THERE. THEY ARE GONE AND WITH THEM WENT THE PEOPLE!!

SO I GUESS IT IS ALL A MATTER OF PROSPECTIVE BUT I HAVE NEVER NEEDED TO BE OR FEEL MORE ISOLATED. I HAVE COUGAR HUNTED FOR 2 TO 3 WEEKS STRAIGHT COVERING HUNDREDS OF MILES AND THE ONLY COMPANY I HAD WERE MY DOGS AND UNLESS i WENT TO TOWN I NEVER SAW ANYONE.
I NOW KNOW WE NEED TO HAVE MORE ACCESS TO CONTROL PREDATORS AND HAVE BETTER BIG GAME MANAGEMENT. WE ONCE HAD BOTH HERE IN IDAHO AND ALSO OVER IN THE BOB MARSHAL BUT THAT HAS DISAPPEARED.

LARRY BAER "Tough to get away from people unless the weather is bad." COME TO NORTHERN IDAHO AND I WILL POINT YOU TO SEVERAL AREAS ON THE MAP WHERE YOU WON'T EVER HAVE THAT PROBLEM IN ANY DIRECTION .

THANKS FOR READING AND LISTENING TO ME RANT.
Pete

[/quote]

North Carolina has red wolves, though it looks like they are probably all hybrids with coyotes and may all have some domestic dog DNA too.

Keith[/quote]
By the DNA they done on what was to be Red Wolf ,that they are not a Red Wolf , it is just a hybrids coyote.

Colorado has some remote areas, but is open to discussion on what the definition of remote is or isolated.

The closer you get to the heavy populated areas the more humans will be in a area. Western or southern Colorado are less populated so those areas are easier to find no people. Also avoid areas that have a "attraction" to people. Popular fishing, or ATV trails.

I can think of many spots within a hour or two of my house one could go for days without seeing another human. May not be the most scenic places in the world, but just no attraction to be there so no one utilizes it.

The Havasupai Reservation "in" the Grand Canyon is very remote. Access is by either helicopter, pack train or hiking a ten mile trail down to the Supai village. A permit is required to gain entrance to the reservation and village. Here are a couple of links to the area. This first one is to the tribal website. http://theofficialhavasupaitribe.com/ This is the Nat Park Service site. https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/havasupai.htm
I'd worked for the Census Bureau during the 2010 decennial which provided a means to visit the village/reservation. If you've read through the links you can see the Havasupai Reservation is not only remote just gaining permission to visit calls for a few months of planning.

I would choose the U.P. of Michigan. There are places there that are secluded and private.

Hi Catcatcher. I like your style. Be careful out there. If you ever come up to N Idaho let me know lunch is on me.

I remember watching one of Gary Jepsen's epic trapping videos, I forget which one... but it was like watching a major motion picture the production was done so well.
In the beginning, Gary spoke the the importance of having adaquate horses - forget motor vehicles - we're talking horses....which are to be rotated, and using two horses at a time.
So I am assuming where he was trapping in the film was pretty (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) far away from civilization.

I'll have to dig out those video's and see if they state where they were filmed.

All I know is that the spaces were completely wide open, with nothing in view for miles around if I recall correctly.

Casey from F&T told me the same thing during one of our many talks on the telephone, he said there are places out there still that only the Indians know about.

I vote for the shoshone national forest between the wood river and dubois in Wyoming. I saw a wolverine up there. And no people for days and days.

Either the western edge of the pasayten wilderness, or the eastern edge of North Cascade National Park in Washington. Access up Ross Lake which is in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area. Hiking into either of those two areas from Ross Lake will guarantee you will be very unlikely to see another person.
Be prepared for some very rugged conditions, lots of nearly vertical country.

Yep a pretty place to starve! LOL Love the UP but it's hard place to live.

There's lot of places where if you were away from your vehicle, people would have a hard time finding you even if you're only a few miles from a road. People have to want to be in an area for most interactions to occur. Check out a map of the Buffalo Gap Nat'l Grasslands in sw SD. South of SD-44 but east of the Cheyenne River and just north of the Pine Ridge Reservation, there's x number (I haven't looked at the map for a while) sq. miles of grasslands that probably has cattle on them but no people. I bet if you walked in on one of the 2-track trails and got of it for a mile or so and did a non-fire, no colorful tent style primitive camping, no one would come by in a week or more, especially say late May through June. You might find other native vision quest people on the other side of the reservation line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcIIQyENrWY

I've always heard it was the thorofare too

Northern Minnesota is very desolate.

Dead stream swamp in northern lower Michigan. Lots of.critters no people.

I trap that county and Dirt is accurate about it.
Dawes county also towards the NW corner.
I trap private and federal ground and rarely see a soul because there just aren't many roads. When I'm off onto ranch roads, you are "off the grid".
It's not the Alaskan bush or Canadian bush of course, but it's quiet none-the-less.

Believe its in his snaring video

Now days "wilderness" is not what it means. Here in arkansas, you can get off the path and not see people, but you might hear them on their machines