A vast high-country forest in western Colorado threaded with wilderness, mountain peaks, and the legacy of the Western frontier.
Gunnison National Forest
Gunnison National Forest is a large U.S. national forest in western Colorado, covering roughly 1.67 million acres across five counties, most prominently Gunnison and Saguache. It sits in the heart of the Southern Rocky Mountains, where high alpine basins, broad river valleys, and dense coniferous forests define much of the terrain. The forest is named after the 19th-century explorer John W. Gunnison, whose surveys opened the region to wider American awareness.
The landscape ranges from sage-dominated foothills to rugged snowcapped ridgelines above thirteen thousand feet, encompassing the headwaters of the Gunnison River as well as parts of the broader Continental Divide watershed. Seven designated wilderness areas fall within or share boundaries with the forest, including the Maroon Bells-Snowmass, Collegiate Peaks, La Garita, West Elk, and Fossil Ridge areas, giving the forest an unusually rich concentration of protected backcountry.
Together with the neighboring Grand Mesa and Uncompahgre National Forests, Gunnison NF is managed today from offices in Delta and is a defining piece of Colorado's outdoor identity, supporting hiking, climbing, hunting, fishing, and winter recreation across an exceptionally varied mountain landscape.
