Pecos Wilderness is a vast protected high-mountain landscape in north-central New Mexico, spanning the Santa Fe and Carson national forests in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Enlarged after its initial federal protection in 1964, it remains largely undeveloped, with no roads, buildings, logging, or mining and no motorized or mechanized travel. Its rugged terrain includes deep canyons, mesa tops, high ridges, meadows, lakes, and streams, and it holds one of New Mexico’s greatest concentrations of peaks above 12,000 feet. Archaeological evidence points to seasonal Indigenous use over many centuries, followed by Spanish colonial occupation, later mineral prospecting, and enduring value for biodiversity and recreation.