You'll find moose, elk, mule deer, and bears roaming southeastern Idaho, but not a single caribou. Caribou National Forest got its name from an infamous tale-spinning gold miner, Jesse Fairchild, whose nickname was"Caribou Jack." According to local lore, Caribou Jack divided his time between concocting incredible whoppers about the Canadian caribou country and searching for gold in Idaho's hills. In 1870, Fairchild and two other men struck paydirt near what is now called Caribou Mountain. The resulting gold rush lasted 20 years and produced $50 million worth of placer gold.

The Caribou National Forest was created in 1907 to help preserve wilderness land in an area marked by mining activity and westward migration. The forest now covers more than 1 million acres in southeast Idaho, with small portions in Utah and Wyoming. Several north-south mountain ranges of the Overthrust Belt dominate the landscape, their slopes covered in both timber and sagebrush. Caribou National Forest offers a wide variety of outdoor activities, including camping, hiking, fishing, climbing, biking, skiing, and horseback riding.

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