State Parks and National Parks

The 1 million acres of the Colville National Forest in northeast Washington cover the Okanogan, Kettle River and Selkirk mountain ranges and channel water into the Columbia River system.

Native Americans lived off the bounty of this land as long as 9,000 years ago and an archaeological dig at Pioneer Park Campground along the Pend Oreille River provides visitors with a glimpse of early life here.

Miners and homesteaders arrived at the turn of the century, leaving behind empty mines, abandoned cabins and tales of woe. Interpretive trails near Sullivan Lake and Kettle Falls tell the story of early logging, sawmilling and mining.

One of the forest's hidden jewels, Sullivan Lake, is home to waterfowl, bighorn sheep and cabins and buildings built by President Franklin Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps.

The Salmo-Priest Wilderness, situated on the wet, west slopes of the Selkirk Mountains, offers wildlife, huge, old-growth trees and few people.

Less primitive recreation includes snowmobile and motorcycle trails, scenic drives and a downhill ski area.

The forest hosts the only caribou recovery area in the continental United States.

Photo credits in order: Photo by Tom Iraci, courtesy of USDA Forest Service. Photo by Tom Iraci, courtesy of USDA Forest Service.