Three Fingers Lookout (WA) - 7/18/2015

[Arturo]

TR of the month! And even more mouth watering as I'm boarding a plane to Florida ... where the highest elevation in the whole state is 300 something feet.

[northridge]

Thanks for all the comments.

Three Fingers Lookout is truly a fascinating location with a very interesting history. There is tons of information online as well as an out of print book.

Pilot/photographer John Scurlock has an amazing collection of winter aerial pics of the Cascades and you can spend hours pouring over the photos. He has a page dedicated to lookouts:

Winter Fire Lookouts of the Northern Cascades

An example of Three Fingers Lookout:

Bosterson--I don't think they are climbed very often, but there are descriptions in the Beckey Guide for both the Middle and North peaks (the lookout is on the South peak).

The unconfirmed story I have always heard is that the South Peak (home of the lookout) was once the the true summit, but 15ft or so was blown up to make a spot for the lookout, possibly before it was ever climbed. Loss of that bit of elevation is said to have promoted the North Peak to summit status.

Did you see any marmots between Goat Flats and Tin Can Gap?

No marmots. We did see a small family of goats, one adult and two kids down off the trail past Tin Can Gap.

OMG, Having worked a fire tower, I can't help but wonder about supply hauling and resupply.Even today there are lookouts where people haul their supplies in at the start of the season by horse or mule train.

The Everett Mountaineers now maintain the lookout and have a site with some good information.

A brief bulletin article here discusses the use of mules for a resupply trip for the restoration process.

[Kinggene]

I loved this report! Glad you had a good time!
I am putting it on my bucket list!
Gene

[greenjello85]

WOW! The view out the back door made me queasy in my arm chair

[Paul2]

Amazing! I climbed Pilchuck this summer, and saw that craggy peak. We thought we could see a lookout, but it seemed too cool to be true. I researched it when I got home and it went instantly on my bucket list. Thanks so much for the report, I really want to go there someday!