Handbook: National Forests

a vast forest draped over a mountain beneath a blue sky

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If National Parks are the United States’ jewels, our national forests are the crowns in which they’re embedded.

They’re the prime source of old-growth left in this nation, some forests thousands of years old. In the Pacific Northwest, glacially carved valleys wear fir coats, and even the younger trees dwarf anything you’ll find in the Rockies or back east. California’s national forests are filled with record-setting redwoods and sequoias and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest alike, where the oldest living things on this planet thrive despite windswept winters and desert hot summers alike. The Rocky Mountains and Appalachians bear their own stands, dramatically different in landscape but stunning each in their own right.

Free camping, endless hiking and nearly every other type of outdoor recreation imaginable can be had in the United States National Forests, and they’re simply put one of the best things about this vast country.

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