Fire Lookout Towers & Guard Stations

[Sean Thomas]

Great Thread idea shaw. I like to imagine what it must have been like to build a lookout and spend that first night up there.


Here is the base of the old Spencer Butte Lookout(SW Washington) built in 1920:





What it looked like back then:





The only lookouts left are the ants:





The Sunrise Peak(SW Washington) was built in 1930, I guess the man watching for fires was staying up there in a tent before the lookout was built.








In this pano you can see some of the old pieces of the lookout:





The views up there are crazy:








I wonder if the railing up to the summit was part of the lookout, or built later for hikers?








The Red Mountain Lookout in Indian Heaven was fun to spend a couple of hours at last summer even though the air was a little smokey:











Flag Point in Badger Creek is great as well. The ranger who mans the lookout in the summer is a really cool guy and is always willing to invite a hiker up to enjoy the views:

[Sean Thomas]

Here is another great website for fire lookouts Washington:


http://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/sk ... ounty.html

[cfm]

Here is the Sand Mountain Lookout near Santiam Pass. It sits right on top of a volcanic cindercone, and you can peer down into the crater from the lookout. It's staffed in the summer.



This was the first lookout to be placed on the historic register. It was restored by volunteers of the Sand Mountain Society, who have since gone on to restore a number other lookouts like Gold Butte near Bulll of the Woods, and Huckleberry Mountain in the Middle Fork district of the Willamette NF.

In order to for it to be a historic building, they relocated a structure and reclaimed wood from two other old fire lookouts and painstakingly restored it as close to the original as possible.





I had the good fortune to meet one of the volunteers from the Sand Mountain Society working at Gold Butte in 2005. He had taken two weeks off to live and work at the lookout and was carefully taking each piece of roof shingle, examining it for rot, and the sanding it down if it was salvagable for reassembly.

Hurray for the Sand Mountain Society and all their hard work!

[kelkev]

This is a great thread, and one that's near and dear to my heart. One of my favorite pastimes, visiting existing and former fire lookouts. I've visited a bunch of them since the 80's, Oregon and Washington. Unfortunately, many of my visits were before I carried a camera with me. This summer, my wife and I are staying overnight in 3 different rental towers in Oregon, we can't wait!

A couple that I hope to revisit again this summer are on the McKenzie District of the Willamette National Forest, Olallie Mountain and Rebel Rock Lookouts. Both are abandoned and unrestored. When I visited Rebel Rock back in the late 80's, it was in fair shape, but I recently saw someone's youtube video of their visit....it's looking pretty rough. Sad, would be neat to see it restored along with Olallie for use in the rental program.

Kevin

[shawjr]

I've really been enjoying everyones coments and photos!! Keep em coming

Here is one I visited last August.
Trout Creek Butte. 86' steel Aermotor tower, built in 1933, was last used for emergencies in the 1970's.
The Pole Creek fire was less than a month from when I took this photo. I hope it survived!

[retired jerry]

Used to be a lookout on top of West Zigzag overlooking highway 26, Rhododendron, Zigzag:

[justpeachy]

This summer, my wife and I are staying overnight in 3 different rental towers in Oregon, we can't wait!

WOW, what's your secret! Who did you bribe at Recreation.gov? Those things are super hard to reserve, especially for weekends (which is the only time I can do it).

Last spring when I was visiting the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge with my sis we saw two cool towers that have been abandoned. The bottom stairs have been removed so people can't go up. What a shame. The view up there must be incredible!

[justpeachy]

When I visited Rebel Rock back in the late 80's, it was in fair shape, but I recently saw someone's youtube video of their visit....it's looking pretty rough. Sad, would be neat to see it restored along with Olallie for use in the rental program.

Is this the Rebel Rock video you saw? It really IS in bad shape. I'm surprised the FS lets it stand considering the liability issues.

[shawjr]

The tower at Trout Creek Butte was the same, they had pulled the lower sections of stairs out. I really had to fight the urge to climb since I was alone...

Like Rebel Rock, I'm afraid Bull Of The Woods will have the same fate.. Sad..

[shawjr]

Ever wonder what the views looked like back in the early 1930's? Here is a very impressive collection of Osborne panaramic photo's from various peaks, as veiwed from the old fire lookout locations.

http://iamwho.com/cdv2/westOr/mthood/forest/forest.htm