Whatever your outdoor obsessions may be—running big-water rivers, hiking through bear country, horsepacking through glacier-draped high country, fly-fishing a blue-ribbon trout stream—you'll find this forest to be one of the world's last great places.
Two stunning, jagged-peaked mountain ranges, the Bitterroot and the Sapphire, rise within the forest; these peaks are drained by the roaring Selway, Clearwater, and Bitterroot Rivers. Nearly half the forest is designated wilderness, much more the domain of deer, elk, moose, black bears, and bighorn sheep than of humans.
Visit the Bitterroot in late mid-to-late June to drop in on the Bitterroot Birding and Nature Festival. Along with speakers, demonstrations, and a wildlife art show, you can join in on any of several group outings to seek out some of the 230 species found in the valley.
Those on horseback should visit the Lower Crazy Creek stock campground off Medicine Springs Road, about 35 miles south of Hamilton. From here, you can access the Warm Springs Trail, which follows the canyon for a gentle, pine-forested four miles before a rugged five-mile climb to the scenic Overwhich Falls.
