The Mae Chaem River was originally called the “Salak Hin”. The river created a big but narrow canyon , which is called Op Luang. The rocks and cliffs are subject to erosion by the strong currents of the river and have formed the canyon and strangely shaped rockformations. The water has to force its way past rocks and boulders obstructing the course which is a magnificent sight. From 1966 to 1991 the park was administered as a forest park. After more surveys by the Royal Forest Department it was gazetted, in 1991, as the 68th national park of Thailand. The area supports a wide variety of natural attractions like waterfalls, caves, hot springs and historical sites, which serve people's education and recreation. At present the entirel park measure 553 km2 and is entirely located in the Chomthong, Hot and Mae Chaem districts, Chiang Mai province, Northern Thailand.
The extensive, north-south running, mountain range of the park is the same as the range Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain of Thailand.
The park receives a monsoonal climate and has three distinct occasional heavy thunderstorms and strong winds.
Due to this national park consists of the mixed forest, drydipterocarp forest, dry-evergreen forest, hill-evergreen forest and moutain-pine forest lets you can find many kinds of plant such as Tectona grandis Linn.f., Dipterocarpus, Pterocarpus macrocarpus, Xylia kerrii, Hopea odorata Roxb, Toona ciliata, Afzelia xylocarpa, Diospyros mollis Griff., D. fusca, Rose wood, Terminalia alata Heyne ex Roth., Queen's Crape Myrtle , Queen's Flower, Anisoptera costata Korth., Mammea siamensis (T. Anderson ) Kosterm., Stereospermum spp., Dipterocarpus tuberculatus Roxb., Shorea obtosa, Shorea siamensis and Pteridium aquilinum var. wightianum, etc. Moreover, the important low-level plants such as bamboo, palm and fern also have been found here. Found animals here are Serow, Tigle, Bear, Deer, Common wild pig, Common Barking deer, White-handed gibbon, Monkey, Viverra megaspila, Rabbit, Silver Carp, Idian or Bengal Monitor and 200 kinds of birds also could be found in this national park, such as White-rumped shama, Scarlet Minivet, Spotted dove, Emerald Dove, Eudynamys scolopacea, Guineafowl, Coucal, hill myna, Parrot, Crested Serpent-eagle, Green peafowl, Siamese Fireback, Red Junglefowl, etc.
