Yaak, MT

Yaak is a Lincoln County census-designated place along the Yaak River inside the Kootenai National Forest, with 338 residents in the 2020 census. It sits in the far northwest corner of Montana, in a forested valley that opens toward the Kootenai River and Lake Koocanusa. Montana Highway 508 follows the valley, but the local map quickly becomes a network of forest roads, side creeks, and scattered homesteads. The river is the through line, bending past cabins and public land before reaching the Kootenai near Troy.

Settlers began coming into the valley from Canada in the 1860s, and the first homestead is traditionally dated to 1906. For decades, mail arrived weekly from Troy, while the local mercantile became one of the first places with a telephone. The Yaak remains shaped by forest work, river access, wildlife, and the long drive between neighbors. The Kootenai National Forest manages most of the surrounding land, including stretches of the Yaak designated for wild and recreational river use. Yaak is a Montana place where a river valley, a national forest, old homesteads, and a remote road network meet.