Park Falls sits at the edge of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, a vast expanse of boreal and northern hardwood forest covering 1.5 million acres. This is Wisconsin's lake district in its natural state: thousands of lakes, rivers, and wetlands threaded through forest that seems to go on forever. The forest is excellent territory for fishing, canoeing, hiking, snowmobiling in winter, and hunting in season.
The Flambeau River, which flows through the forest south of Park Falls, is one of Wisconsin's better whitewater canoe routes. Several companies near town rent canoes and run shuttles. The northern part of the forest around Park Falls has extensive snowmobile trails that connect to the larger network running across the region.