>>2702573The term "national forest" is more of a legal definition than a literal one. It means land managed by the us forest service, which is pretty laid back compared to the national park service. For an example of a non-foresty area, Mount Evans in Colorado is within the Arapaho national forest, although due to its popularity it has more usage restrictions than other places.
As for the point, where I live the only nearby location with with elevation change where I can work really hard to walk up a hill and sleep outside is a forest in a wilderness area, and that's all I really want from a weekend trip. There's usually some stuff to look at, too.
