The region of the province in which the wilderness area is located is known as 'Wospegeak' to the Mi'kmaq, which translates to "sunshine is reflected from water".

This name is well-suited, for the wilderness area contains nearly 30 lakes of various sizes, with rugged conifer forest in between them.

This landscape was created by glaciation; thick ice sheets scraped across the surface of the 350-million year old granite of the Eastern Shore Granite Ridge for thousands of years.

When the ice melted about 10,000 years ago, it left boulders scattered throughout the region, along with an undulating landscape of parallel ridges and deposits of glacial debris.

Over time, the low spots filled with water and became lakes, while higher locations with deeper and richer soils support hardwoods such as yellow birch and sugar maple.