Welcome to the Black Hills, the northeastern-most portion of the Willapa Hills (part of the Coastal Range). Bordered on the south and west by the Chehalis River, the east by the Deschutes valley, and the north by Puget Sound, Capitol Forest is a 100,000 acre State Forest managed by the Department of Natural Resources. Capitol Forest has over a hundred miles of trails and hundreds of miles of gravel roads. Free camping is available on a first-come first-served basis at official campground sites. 

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Capitol Forest is a working forest, and logging operations are common. But, that's part of the lifeblood of Western Washington, and we regularly work with DNR to minimize trail impacts, where possible. The history and magic of the Forest also permeate the place, if you know where to look and look carefully. There's a ghost town, carved gnomes, long-abandoned railroad beds, cougars, bears, bobcats, lots of deer (just not during hunting season), and even a resident herd of elk. Mushrooms abound, when the season is right, and there have even been reports of the mystical and elusive Capitol Forest Wild Turkey. Honestly, Sasquatch sitings are more common, so we'll believe the turkey thing when we see it for ourselves. 

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In short, we love this place, and we think you will too. 

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More information is on DNR's Capitol Forest website.