The narrow neck of land between the land northward and the land southward is possibly the most prominent geographical feature in the mental maps of Book of Mormon readers. Next in prominence could well be the narrow strip of wilderness, centrally located in Mormon’s description of the Book of Mormon lands between the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla (Alma 22:27-35). Mormon states that the Lamanite king’s land (the land of Nephi) “was divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west” (Alma 22:27). This statement specifically places the narrow strip of wilderness in a location extending from the land of Nephi on the south to the land of Zarahemla on the north and in a setting which was bordered on the west by the sea west and on the east by the sea east (See our topic article, From the Sea West to the Sea East).

This wilderness area was the location of Alma’s travels from the waters of Mormon to the land of Helam and on to the land of Zarahemla and also the journeys of Ammon and Zeniff and others. The following analysis examines the features, shape, location and orientation of the narrow strip of wilderness, as described in the Book of Mormon record. We then match these descriptions to a north-south trending, narrow strip of wilderness in Baja California. Lastly, we outline and map the 13 recorded journeys of Alma, Zeniff, Ammon and others through the narrow strip of wilderness.