About this place
The Fishhooks Wilderness covers 10,500 acres, looked after by the Bureau of Land Management in Arizona.
It joined the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1990, along with a great deal of other federal land. That system was set up by the Wilderness Act of 1964 and now runs to over 109 million acres.
Wilderness means hard walking. It also means real solitude, and that solitude is the point of the whole designation. Follow the rules for the area, and leave no trace, so it stays that way.
Motors and machines are generally banned on any federal land designated as wilderness. That covers motor vehicles and off-highway vehicles, motorboats, bicycles, hang gliders, wagons, carts and portage wheels. Landing an aircraft or a helicopter counts too.
Ask the agency if you need more on the rules. The detail matters in a wilderness, and getting it wrong carries a penalty.
You need a recreation permit from the San Carlos Apache Indian Tribe before you cross any Reservation land on your way in.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Coordinates 33.217899, -109.982614
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
A few more of our own spots are within reach of this one, along with some better-known places.
- Mount Turnbull Directions
- Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area Directions
- Black Hills Back Country Byway Directions
- Mount Graham Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Bylas, AZ Directions
Bylas is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.