It is located within the Shawnee National Forest in northwestern Union County, Illinois.
[1] As with other wilderness areas within Shawnee National Forest, the Bald Knob Wilderness is made of second-growth forested areas that were used, until the land acquisitions of the 1930s, as agriculture land.
The United States Forest Service, which manages the wilderness, describes it as a land of "homestead[s], fruit trees, cemeteries, and abandoned roads.
Firewood was cut here and farmers tried to use the region's well-watered, temperate climate to grow orchard fruits such as apples.
Visitors who travel by road to the Bald Knob Cross, as they drive up the east side of the mountain to the cross, skirt the Bald Knob Wilderness on their drive.