Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests
National Forest · Kamiah, Idaho
About four million acres of north-central Idaho, the old Nez Perce and Clearwater forests of 1908 run as one since 2012 from an office at Kamiah. Two Wild and Scenic rivers cut through it - the Lochsa and the Selway - and US Highway 12 follows the Lochsa for seventy miles of the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway with no fuel, no food and no signal along most of it. Behind the road is the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, and above it runs the Lolo Trail, the Nimiipuu route across the Bitterroots that Lewis and Clark took in 1805 and very nearly starved on.
1008 Highway 64, Kamiah, Idaho, 83536, United States
Open year round with no entrance station and no fee. THE SUPERVISOR'S OFFICE AT KAMIAH keeps weekday hours, typically 8:00 to 4:30, and closes on federal holidays; district offices at Grangeville, Orofino, Kooskia, Elk City, Kamiah, Powell and Salmon River keep their own and several are seasonal. ⚠ US-12 IS OPEN ALL YEAR AND IS A SERIOUS WINTER DRIVE over Lolo Pass. THE LOLO MOTORWAY (Forest Road 500) IS HIGH-CLEARANCE, DRY-WEATHER AND ROUGHLY JULY TO SEPTEMBER ONLY. Most side roads are unploughed from November. Free self-issue wilderness registration is at the trailhead boards. ⚠ THE SELWAY RIVER ALLOWS ONE LAUNCH PER DAY IN THE CONTROL SEASON by lottery; the Lochsa is unrestricted. FIRE AND SMOKE CLOSURES ARE ROUTINE FROM LATE JULY and have closed the highway itself.
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