The wilderness area is on the west side of the mountain and is part of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

The wilderness includes about 21 miles (34 km) of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, which passes to the west and north Mount Adams.

Climbing Mount Adams can be dangerous for a variety of reasons and people do die in pursuit of the summit.

Adams and its glaciers, streams, open alpine forests, parklands, and wildflowers which speckle the lava flows and rimrocks.

[1] Potato Hill is a cinder cone on Adams' north side that was created in the late Pleistocene and stands 800 feet (240 m) above its lava plain.

The snowpack at Potato Hill starts building in late October to early November and the last of the snow generally melts by the beginning of June, but occasionally lingers into July.

[11] Temperatures and precipitation can be highly variable around Adams, due in part to its geographic location astride the Cascade Crest, which gives it more of a continental influence than some of its neighbors.