Pemigewasset Wilderness

Pemigewasset Wilderness Area
IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
Looking west from Bondcliff across Owl's Head to Franconia Ridge
Map of the United States
Location	Grafton County, New Hampshire, USA
Nearest city	Lincoln, New Hampshire
Coordinates	44°06′45″N 71°31′36″W / 44.11250°N 71.52667°W / 44.11250; -71.52667
Area	45,000 acres (182 km2)
Established	1984
Governing body	United States Forest Service

The Pemigewasset Wilderness is a 45,000-acre (182 km²) federally designated Wilderness Area in the heart of New Hampshire's White Mountains. It is a part of the White Mountain National Forest. It is New Hampshire's largest wilderness area.^[1]

The Wilderness Area consists of the upper watershed of the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River, and includes the Franconia, Twin, Zealand, and Hancock mountain ranges, but excludes the summits of the ranges and the trail along them. As a result of the region's rugged character, the Pemigewasset Wilderness is a popular recreation area; its large trail network receives heavy use, in the form of hiking, cross-country skiing, and others, throughout the year.

The area is also noted for its ecological recovery from the logging era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After years of unchecked clear-cutting, during which the zone had the largest logging railroad system in the White Mountains, the area's inclusion in the White Mountain National Forest and later designation as a Wilderness Area has led to a substantial rebound in the forest ecosystem.^[2]