National Forests of the Trail

The 2.4-million-acre Flathead National Forest lies in the Rocky Mountains of Northwest Montana, just south of the Canadian border and Glacier National Park. With abundant lakes, rugged wilderness, wild rivers, over 2,000 miles of trail, campgrounds, ski areas, and year-round beauty, this forest is a premiere natural landscape of the American West.

Kootenai National Forest, bordering Canada and nestled in the mountainous terrain of Northwest Montana, contains impressive forests, wildlife and landscapes, including striking cliffs, spires, river canyons and the magnificent peaks of the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness and Whitefish Range. 

The Idaho Panhandle National Forests create a tapestry of land and water in the panhandle of North Idaho. Vast lakes and miles of rivers support a world-class fishery. Rich in wildlife, the forest is home to large game such as elk and deer, as well as species such as grizzly bears, wolves, and caribou. 

The Colville National Forest disproves the widely held notion that Washington state lies flat east of the Cascade Mountains. Today's 1.5-million-acre forest was first shaped over 10,000 years ago by Ice Age glaciers that carved three major valleys of today's Columbia, San Poil-Curlew, and Pend Oreille River flowing north into Canada before entering the Columbia River.

The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest is a large and diverse landscape, encompassing 3.8 million acres along the east slopes of the Cascade Range in Washington. The Forest extends all the way from the Canadian border to the Yakama Indian Reservation in the southern part of Washington state.

The Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in extends more than 140 miles along the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains from the Canadian border to the northern boundary of Mt. Rainier National Park. The Forest covers portions of Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King, and Pierce Counties. Proximity to Seattle and Vancouver, Canada, make the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest one of the most visited National Forests in the country. 

Originally created as the Olympic Forest Reserve in 1897, the Olympic National Forest encompasses roughly 632,000 acres of varied landscape on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. From lush temperate rainforests to high mountain ridges to the salt water fjord of Hood Canal, the diverse and scenic forest reaches from sea level to the mid-elevations of the Olympic Mountains and provides a wide array of recreational activities and forest products.