The Mission Mountain Range is the gateway to the Mission Mountain Wilderness Area, a 73,877-acre paradise for hiking, camping and fishing. An area of outstanding scenic beauty--rugged, snowcapped peaks, several small glaciers, alpine lakes, meadows and clear cold streams. Popularly known as the American Alps, the overpowering western face of the Missions pierces the sky almost 7000 feet above the valley floor. The apex of the range is a glacier-studded 9280-foot McDonald Peak in the rugged south, where a dozen other summits rise above 9000 feet. Permanent snow fields feed hundreds of gem-like tarns (glacier formed lakes) in one of the highest densities of alpine lakes in the Northern Rockies. Waterfalls are abundant, with the best known being the 1000-foot plunges of Elizabeth and Mission Falls.

In 1979 the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes designated 89,500 acres of privately owned tribal lands along the western slopes as Wilderness. This is the only Tribal Wilderness in the nation to be established by the actual tribe. In the words of the Mission Mountains Committee: ‘These mountains belong to our children, and when our children grow old they will belong to their children. In this way and for this reason these mountain are sacred.'