Ventana Wilderness is a rugged protected backcountry in Los Padres National Forest on California’s Central Coast, named for a notch called “The Window” near Ventana Double Cone. Long before federal protection, the Esselen lived seasonally between the Big Sur coast and interior, while Pico Blanco was sacred to the Rumsien and Esselen as a place of origin; the Spanish mission system devastated that native world. Modern protection began with the Ventana Primitive Area and culminated in formal wilderness designation in 1969, followed by several expansions. Known for steep ridges, deep canyons, redwoods, chaparral, and varied wildlife, it remains a major conservation landscape.