Slide Mountain Wilderness Area is a 47,500-acre state Forest Preserve in New York’s Catskill Park and the largest wilderness-protected area between the Adirondacks and the southern Appalachians. Centered on the high central Catskills, it has been protected for about a century and has been formally designated wilderness since 1985. Its significance lies in its extensive first-growth forest, the Catskills’ only completely wild valley along the upper East Branch of the Neversink, and 10 of the range’s 35 High Peaks, including Slide Mountain. It is also a vital watershed, important wildlife habitat, and a carefully managed destination for low-impact recreation under New York’s “forever wild” protections.