Unit 142 covers the northern Sangre de Cristos and the western flank of the Wet Mountain Valley—Custer and northern Saguache County country with the Sangre crest defining the western boundary. Elevations climb from about 7,500 feet on the Wet Mountain Valley floor to over 14,000 feet on Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, Humboldt Peak, and the Crestone group. The Sangres here are some of the steepest, most dramatic mountains in the contiguous US—a saw-toothed crest of conglomerate rock that rises 6,000 feet from the valley floor in just a few miles. Vegetation steps from sagebrush and PJ in the valley, into ponderosa pine and aspen on the lower mountain slopes, lodgepole and Douglas fir in the mid-elevations, and dense subalpine spruce-fir with alpine meadows above 11,500 feet. Bighorn sheep hold the high crags; mule deer and elk work the timbered benches and meadows; black bear is good in the oakbrush. San Isabel National Forest covers the high country with the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness occupying the crest core (motorized access prohibited—it's foot or horse). Private ranches dominate the valley floor on the east side; the western base of the range drops into the San Luis Valley. CO-69 runs north-south through the Wet Mountain Valley; CO-17 and county roads access the western base. Westcliffe is the eastern gateway—small, charming, with gas, lodging, and a serious mountain backdrop; Salida north is bigger; the western base is reached from Crestone, a small spiritual community with limited services. Cell service is fair in the valley and gone in the wilderness. Pack-outs from the high country are genuinely punishing—the topography rewards horse hunters or stronger-than-average DIY backpack capability.