Colville National Forest

Occupying 1.1 million acres in Washington's remote and lightly visited northeast corner, Colville National Forest stretches from the Columbia River to the Canadian border across the Selkirk, Kettle River, and Chewelah mountain ranges. The Salmo-Priest Wilderness protects the last habitat in Washington for endangered woodland caribou and is one of the few places in the lower 48 where grizzly bears, wolves, and wolverines still roam together. Sullivan Lake, one of the deepest and clearest lakes in eastern Washington, offers outstanding fishing for trophy bull trout and mackinaw in a dramatic mountain setting framed by the Hall Mountain ridge. The forest's diverse landscape includes granite peaks, wildflower-filled alpine meadows, dense cedar-hemlock forests in moist valleys, and dry ponderosa pine parklands on sun-baked slopes. Over 300 miles of trails provide uncrowded hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding, while winter brings snowmobiling on an extensive groomed trail system and backcountry skiing in the Selkirk Range. The forest also manages significant mining heritage from the region's silver and lead mining era, with historic structures and interpretive sites scattered throughout the mountains.