Bitterroot National Forest

Straddling the rugged Bitterroot Range along the Idaho-Montana border, this 1.6 million-acre forest was among the first national forests established in the United States. The forest includes portions of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness -- one of the largest wilderness areas in the lower 48 at 1.3 million acres -- and the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, providing an unbroken expanse of wild backcountry. Trapper Peak rises to 10,157 feet as the highest point in the Bitterroot Range, offering challenging alpine climbing and sweeping views across western Montana and central Idaho. The Bitterroot Valley on the forest's eastern edge is renowned worldwide for fly fishing on the Bitterroot River, which supports healthy populations of native westslope cutthroat and rainbow trout. The forest played a pivotal role in wildfire history during the Great Fire of 1910, which burned three million acres across Idaho and Montana and shaped American fire policy for the next century. Today the forest offers hundreds of miles of trails through old-growth cedar groves, subalpine meadows, and granite cirques, with excellent opportunities for backpacking, horseback riding, and big-game hunting.