It is named after the White River that passes through its northern section.

It is the most visited National Forest in the United States, primarily from users of the twelve ski areas within its boundaries.

In descending order of land area it is located in parts of Eagle, Pitkin, Garfield, Summit, Rio Blanco, Mesa, Gunnison, Routt, and Moffat counties.

There are local ranger district offices in Aspen, Carbondale, Eagle, Meeker, Minturn, Rifle, and Silverthorne.

The following ski areas are located inside the forest: There are ten peaks with an elevation higher than 14,000 ft (4,267 m), colloquially known as 14ers in the forest: The following two peaks are often included in lists of the Colorado fourteeners, but do not pass the 300 ft topographic prominence metric commonly used by U.S. Mountaineers: "White River has 70 Streams and 110 lakes for fish," June 10, 1937.