Big Creek Trail - Selway Bitterroot Wilderness -Bitterroot National Forest

Beautiful Big Creek is lined with big trees and all of the other essential elements of an old-growth forest. What is especially unique about this forest, especially once you get past the Wilderness boundary at 2 miles is that it is truly an old-growth mixed conifer forest. Pockets of shade-loving old-growth western red cedar are a stone's throw away from sun-loving giant Ponderosa Pines. Ancient western larches, grand firs, and Douglas firs abound. Snags soar into the big sky, studded with cavities made by pileated woodpeckers and used by rare old-growth dependent forest carnivores, fishers and pine martens. The most impressive sections of old-growth are between 3 and 7 miles along the trail in bottomlands where tributaries join the main creek. The grade is never too steep, and every step is worth the effort!