The area that is now Sawtooth National Forest was first occupied by people as early as 8000 BC and by the Shoshone tribe after 1700 AD. The first European descendants migrating from the eastern United States arrived in the area around the 1820s; they were mainly explorers, trappers, and prospectors, and they founded many of the current towns around what later became the forest. Sawtooth National Forest offers facilities for recreation, with four ski areas, whitewater and flatwater boating, hunting, 81 campgrounds, and over of trails and roads for hiking, mountain biking, and all-terrain vehicle use, including two National Recreation Trails.