[Beave]

What's a hiker to do after sleeping in past 12?! Something quick and easy. Something like the Heybrook Lookout. Situated just above Hwy 2, shortly after the Index turn-off, Heybrook is a quick jaunt through the woods to a lookout at 1824'. At about 1.3 miles each way and just over 900' of gain, it offers little difficulty. I made it up to the lookout in just under 30 minutes, at a pretty casual pace. You can walk the stairs up to the observation deck, but the final level just above is padlocked and off-limits to the public. I broke out my monocular and scoped out past climbs of Baring, Persis and Merchant. Also did some "recon" for Index and Gunn. The views were nice, but remember, you're only at 1900'. I snapped some pics and was off. Now being warmed-up, I kicked it up a notch into "casual-jog-mode" and made it back to my truck in 10 minutes flat.

index persis sunset

heybrook

baring

[Marmot]

Those are some nice pics, Beave. Otter and I were talking about a run up to Heybrook a short time ago. I had actually been wondering if you can still go up the tower. I've not been there in about 15 or 20 years (geeze, am I now to the point of saying THAT?!?). I remember that the last flight of stairs to the observations cabin as really sketchy and loose. Did they padlock below it?

[Beave]

Thanks for the comments on the pics, Marmot. To answer your question, yes you can walk up all the flights of stairs, except the last one, which has a padlocked trap door. All the stairs I climbed seemed fairly sturdy. I imagine the only reason they lock it is because it is so close to the road, and thus so accessible to vandals and other riff-raff.

[A Lookout Hiker]

Nice photos of Heybrooker, I like it!

[Lookout Liker]

Here's a story about Heybrook: Heybrook Which reminds me of Trailcat and MounTAIN woman's story. Youngster named Brook was about to climb the stairs, when Trailcat said to her "Hey Brook, look out!". Well, I thought their story was hilarious...