The Selway–Bitterroot Wilderness spans northern Idaho and western Montana along the Bitterroot Mountains, covering about 1.3 million acres across four national forests. One of the largest designated wilderness areas in the United States outside Alaska, it includes steep mountain terrain, major river headwaters, and a broad elevation range from low river valleys to Trapper Peak. The Lochsa and Selway rivers both begin here before joining near Lowell to form the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River. The area supports one of the nation’s largest elk herds, along with bighorn sheep and reintroduced gray wolves, and remains a remarkably intact backcountry landscape.