McKnight Mountain is the highest peak in southwestern New Mexico’s Black Range, rising to 10,165 feet in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness of the Gila National Forest northeast of Silver City. Lying just off the Continental Divide, it has a flat, north-south summit ridge about half a mile long rather than a single pointed top. Forested slopes give way near the crest to a rocky, open ridge with wide views. The mountain is also a watershed divide: its western slopes drain through McKnight Canyon to the East Fork of the Mimbres River, while its eastern side drains into Las Animas Creek and ultimately the Rio Grande at Caballo Lake.