National Park Too Crowded? Try These Stunning National Forests
These public lands have just as much beauty and far fewer restrictions, often for free.
You may have already touched National Forest land and not realized it. The reach is massive: managed by the US Forest Service, 155 forests populate 44 states, which in addition to 20 National Grasslands, bring the total acreage to a whopping 193 million. They envelop scenic highways and mountainous cities, red rocks, snowy mountains, wilderness areas and crystal clear streams, with multiple entry points and rarely any admission fee. In witnessing one, you may have just looked around after pulling off the road and thought, hey, this place is extremely beautiful.
And that beauty is no accident. After poorly policed public lands led to decimation by widespread illegal logging practices, tree reserves were established by President Benjamin Harrison’s Forest Reserve Act of 1891, to provide a healthy source of timber for the country. The mantle was picked up by his successor, conservation fiend Theodore Roosevelt, who morphed the reserves into National Forests, and created the US Forest Service to manage them.
But building timber reserves was just one impetus behind the creation of the National Forests. “There were two primary reasons for their establishment,” says Marcus Selig, chief conservation officer of the National Forest Foundation, the nonprofit partner of the US Forest Service. “One was to produce timber for a growing nation, and the other was for water protection. The streams for drinking water for two thirds of Americans start on National forests. So they’re incredibly important for that.”
Beautiful landscapes were a bonus. Watersheds are most likely to be found in rich mountainous regions, with trees to hold the liquid and release it throughout the year. The plants also pull double duty: constantly working to clean and oxygenate the air, fight climate change, and ensure healthy ecosystems.
National Forests also provide resources for the economy. Livestock grazing is permitted on the land. “The beef you eat may have spent time on National Forests,” says Selig. The forests have also played a role in gold rushes, and mining for precious metals continues on their land today. They host paleontological research, gas exploration, and some continued timber production.
But it wasn’t until 1960, when Congress passed the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act, that outdoor recreation was considered as an addition to the National Forests’ offerings. It would thus become one of five "multiple-use" established purposes of the forests. The others include range, timber production, watershed, and wildlife protection.
Today the relatively under-the-radar National Forests provide an incredibly viable recreational alternative to National Parks. On National Forest land you can hike and bike, you can stroll with four-legged friends, you can ski and snowmobile, mush and stargaze, and fish and raft and windsurf. You can find overnight camping, including dispersed backcountry sites, way more easily than National Parks. You can chop timber for your fires at home (with permission), and even find yourself that perfect Christmas tree come December.
With help from the National Forest Foundation, there are hundreds of cabins and recreational areas to enjoy (currently 25 new public use cabins are in progress in Alaska, for example). The $200 million in projects on the ground for the NFF this year include modernizing campgrounds, expanding trailheads and kiosks, mitigating wildfire risk, improving wildlife management, and ensuring the health of watersheds. It’s a job in tandem with those who use the land the most. “We work with communities to build shared vision and around how our lands should be managed, and we help the Forest Service and partners develop new innovative approaches to improve their lands,” says Selig.
While it’s impossible to actually count the number of visitations given the multiple entry points, it’s estimated that 159 million people visit National Forest acreage each year, versus 325 million each year for the 85 million acres of National Parks, and counting. This means that there’s much more space for visitors to spread out, for free. This July 8 to 14 is National Forest Week, when visitors are encouraged to find their own favorite forest or grassland. And it might be easier than you think: Seven in 10 Americans are within a two-hour drive of one of these natural wonders.
“I use them for everything from hikes and bike rides and to cut firewood to keep in my house all winter,” says Selig. “I hunt on ‘em, I fish on ‘em. Take my dog for walks on ‘em. I’m fortunate to live within a mile of my closest National Forest. It is my playground.”
Here are 11 National Forests to make your playground this summer.
Alaska
At almost 17 million acres and featuring rocky islands, dense forests, dramatic waterfalls, remote lakes, towering mountains, and tidewater glaciers, Tongass is the largest national forest in the nation, and the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. Covering over 80 percent of Southeast Alaska and enveloping the famed Inside Passage, the name is derived from the Tongass Clan of the Tlingit Peoples, who, along with the Haida and Tsimshian Peoples, have lived in this area for thousands of years. Bear viewing is popular, as well as fishing and whale watching from charter boats off of Juneau, Sitka, and Petersburg. Rent one of their cabins and you may end up staying in one of the new structures built in tandem with the National Forest Foundation.
Alaska
Alaska’s Chugach National Forest, billed as America’s most northerly national forest, is just 35 miles south from Anchorage on the scenic Seward Highway. Larger than New Hampshire, at 6.9 million miles it’s the second largest national forest in the nation. Chugach features 20 tidewater glaciers, rainforest, snowbound ranges, and wet marshes, covering Prince William Sound and the Kenai Peninsula and connecting towns like Cooper Landing, Moose Pass, Seward, Cordova, and Girdwood. In the late 1800s the area was the site of a full-on gold rush, and you can still mine for gold with the proper permissions, as well as the usual fishing, kayaking, and hiking. There are currently 41 public use cabins, or you can opt for a more luxurious stay at the Alyeska Resort, with a Scandinavian-style outdoor spa. They also recently debuted two skybridges that allow you to walk thousands of feet above the wilderness.
Arizona
If you’ve been to the red rocks of Sedona, you’ve been to the Coconino National Forest. As fun to say as it is to play in, the Coconino has all the diversity you’d think of when coming to Arizona, and some you might not. Surrounding Flagstaff and Sedona you’ll find red deserts, deep canyons, lush ponderosa pines, prickly cacti, volcanic lava tubes, and snow-capped mountains, including Arizona’s highest point with Humphrey’s Peak (12,633 feet). Plus Mormon Lake, Arizona’s largest natural lake and a windsurfing destination. “I remember my first drive up there from Phoenix, through Sedona red rocks, and then I pop out on this plateau in Flagstaff, and it's all pine trees, with a snow covered peak in the background. It was just unreal,” says Selig. Coconino borders four other national forests: the Kaibab National Forest, which borders the north and south rim of the Grand Canyon; the Prescott National Forest, known for its year-round outdoor adventures; the rugged Tonto National Forest; and the cold water lakes of Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests.
Colorado
Region two in the National Forests system covers Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, a virtual treasure trove of public lands. But if you had to pick the most visited of the bunch it would be the White River National Forest. Here, there are 11 ski resorts including big names like Vail, Aspen, and Breckenridge, and the area was once where the US military built Camp Hale as a training ground for, among others, the 10th Mountain Division, an elite skiing military force trained to fight in mountainous conditions. Today its 2.3 million acres, nestled in the Colorado Rockies, includes spectacular gems like Hanging Lake, where a lake bed drops from the surface, reached by a 1.2-mile hike up 1,000 feet of elevation.
Montana
A couple hours from Missoula in Western Montana, what might sound like an Indigenous name is actually thought to be an evolution from "Lou-Lou", a pronunciation of the name "Lawrence," a French-Canadian fur trapper killed by a grizzly bear and buried at Grave Creek. In addition to easy access off the highway for hiking and other water and mountainous outdoor activities in 2 million acres of land, including four wilderness areas, Lolo is one of the sites of a research project by the University of Montana, tracing the origins of Chinese heritage in the area.
Utah
Outside of Salt Lake City, covering 2.2 million acres in Utah and Wyoming, this one is three forests combined and nicknamed the UWC. Sometimes referred to as the “storage tank of the West,” much of the drinking water for the Wasatch front region comes from the nearby City Creek and Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. Convenient access from cities makes it one of the most visited National Forests in the nation, with nine million visitors per year. It’s a year-round destination for activities but is especially sought after in winter because, as Utah likes to say, they have the “Greatest Snow on Earth.”
California
One of eight National Forests along the Sierra Nevada range, contrary to its name, this is not the public land right around Lake Tahoe. That one’s actually called the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. You’ll find this one around Truckee and its 871,495 acres are a haven for hiking, backcountry skiing, beautiful rivers, and possibly one rare wolverine. There are hundreds of manmade lakes and reservoirs and it serves as the water supply for several towns. According to Selig, “it’s kind of got it all,” including Christmas tree permits, should you have a little Paul Bunyan in you.
Washington
An alpine forest in the Cascade mountain range, the stunning Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest draws the line between Western and Eastern Washington. Its 3.8 million acres cover the east side of the range in Washington, and feature over 140 camping and picnic grounds. Mushroom picking is a favorite pastime, including sought-after morels (individuals can cop up to five gallons per day(!)). Winter activities are especially fruitful, with opportunities including skijoring and snowboarding.
North Carolina
Just outside of Asheville, the Pisgah has OG status, the first tract of land purchased under the Weeks Act of 1911 which led to the creation of the National Forests in the eastern United States. And as such, it is top tier, “quintessential southern Appalachian mountains,” says Selig, sliced by 200 miles of the Appalachian trail and bordering Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee. Once a destination for the logging industry, it’s the home of the first school of forestry in the United States, now preserved at the Cradle of Forestry in America historic site. The former logging trails are now road and bike paths, with waterfalls, whitewater rivers, and trails galore.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire (and a tiny bit of Maine)’s White Mountain National Forest is royalty of sorts, housing the Presidential Range whose peaks are named after our nation’s leaders, including the 6,288-foot Mount Washington, a white whale destination for intrepid hikers. The land offers 100 miles of the Appalachian trail that runs through the forest, with animal sightings including moose, black bears, and peregrine falcons.
Minnesota
A hot-spot for kayaking, canoeing, hiking, fishing, and skiing, in 2000, Superior National Forests’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a wilderness site with jagged cliffs, sandy shores, rocky beaches and water sources carved by ancient glaciers, was designated an International Dark Sky Sanctuary. It’s the first in Minnesota, the first federally designated wilderness site to be given the accolade, and, at 1,098,000 acres, one of the largest in the world. Of course any of the National Forests on this list are excellent locations for stargazing. But if you want to say you saw the Milky Way somewhere superior, this would be the one.