[Dean]

Eric

[lookout bob]

Gentlemen...a brief history of LB....don't fish...hate getting mosquito bit at lakes so no 'lake bagger'. Not a hunter, climber etc. Do like high places. Starting picking lookout hikes. Soon, had been to 80-90...thought I was hot stuff. Found out about Forest Fire Lookout Association and joined. Got it touch with Ray Kresek and got his book. Went to ffla picnic in 1997 on the Teanaway and met Catherine Stephenson ( then Chief Ranger of Cle Elum District) who told me of volunteer lookout program at Red Top Lookout....been there 7 years now at least one weekend every year. Told Ray Kresek I was proud of the 80-90 lookouts I'd been to and was told..."Bob, I hate to burst your bubble, but I've been to 1500 lookouts researching my book...." Deflated Bob persists and has now visited 179 lookouts and sites( In Washingotn....don't count other states....) Am currently involved more and more with trying to save Kelly Butte( TR tomorrow....) Have got the bug bad. Encourage you lookout lovers to join FFLA.org( hey it's only $15....) and get involved...or just enjoy as a lookout hanger on... How about a lookout lovers club within nwhikers? I'm in..... let's keep talking about them.....and visiting.....and encouraging the FS, DNR etc to keep them standing. Keep on Lookouting!!!! p.s Geohiker...check out the Wenatchee National Forest Website and go to volunteer opportunities....look for Red Top...you can sign up to volunteer for a weekend at the lookout....your duties would be to keep the lookout open for visitors (during the day) and periforily look for fires (Red Top is not an active lookout although numerous burns have been reported from there including a 2004 one by yours truly..... You too can stay in a lookout and get hooked. my wife and I and another ffla member cleaned up Kelly yesterday...the lookout is open although in deplorable shape and you can stay there.....ugly though....Park Butte is open to first come first served although if Skagit Mountaineers are there, they can boot you out to work on the lookout. Hidden Lake peak is open for visitors as is the notorious 3 fingers....Winchester is open likewise....go stay before the snow closes them up....heck, you can even stay in Pilchuck..... :embarassedlaugh:pps....the book is called "Fire Lookouts of the Northwest"

[lookout bob]

Geohiker....oops, didn't really respond to all your questions....Heybrook is in the last stages of renovation. It should theoretically be available for rental next year....FFLA western washington director Forrest Clark handled the renovation and has done a great job and is going to work on 3 fingers soon.....

[Eric]

Sorry on the book title mistake. Not sure why the word Watchers popped into my head but anyway Fire Lookouts of the Northwest is the title as mentioned above. In addition to the ones Bob mentioned you can also rent Evergreen. I've seen volunteers in a few other lookouts staying for a week or weekend: Granite Mtn, Kloshe Naniche (sp?), and Sun Top among others. Although I dunno what the setup or contact point for those particular places is. Burley Mtn I believe is also one that you can stay in at least during the winter.

[Dean]

I started trying to remember what lookouts I had visited in the last calendar year and I have a short list: Oregon Butte (2nd time there) Dixie Butte (Oregon - manned during my visit with husband- wife team) HighRock (Wash) Big Lookout (Oregon - closed for season) Carpenter Mtn (Oregon - closed for season) Anthony Peak (Calif - manned during my visit) Odell Butte (Oregon - manned during my visit) Black Butte (Oregon - closed,early spring) Scott Peak (Oregon - manned during my visit) Needless to say, I'll be adding to this list next year. Count me in as a member of the lookout group here at NWHikers.

[Eric]

My list for 05: Moses Mtn Burley Mtn Mt. Constitution Kelly Butte Mt. Pilchuck Copper Mtn Hidden Lake Peaks First Butte Goat Peak Lookout Mtn (Twisp) Mt. Leecher Slate Peak Alpine Lookout Sugarloaf Peak Tyee Mtn Clearwater Lookout Diamond Peak (Umatilla) [Former Site] Silver Star (Gifford Pinchot) [Former Site] Mt. Beljica [Former Site] Mary's Peak [Former site] *OR* Copernicus Peak [Not sure on name? Next to observatory E of San Jose] *CA* Diamond Head [More like Fire Bunkers than lookout] *HI* Copper Mtn, First Butte, Goat Peak and Sugarloaf were the only ones manned at the time I got there although Sugarloaf is manned more as a visitor center and Copper Mtn with a ranger so I guess First Butte and Goat Peak were the only ones with people really looking for fires. Still got a few more on the agenda hopefully for this year if the weather stays tolerable including Shriner Peak, Jumpoff Joe, Mt. Bonaparte, North 20 Mile, Ned Hill and maybe Funk/Buck/Aeneas if my car can crawl close enough to the summits while visiting Bonaparte/N. 20 Mile. Lookouts at the top of my list for 2006: Desolation Peak Oregon Butte/Table Rock/Big Butte Dodger Point Three Fingers Mt. Spokane/Quartz Mtn Copper Mtn Green Mtn (If it is put back on mtn?) Cascade Peak Puyallup Ridge Park Butte Lookout Mtn (Marblemount) Sourdough Mtn Of course I have numerous other hikes including some former lookout sites and all told my list is long enough that I'm going to need a six day weekend every week to get them all done. Long term my goal is to visit all of the standing lookouts in WA by the end of 2007. Excluding perhaps a few, or maybe more than a few (Think Colville/Spokane/Yakama Reservations) which I cannot gain access to.

[lookout bob]

wow....you are ambitious....I'd like to be included on some of those.....I'd like very much to go to Desolation and we could all split the cost of the boat.....Crater( the east one, not the summit...) Beljica are ones I haven't visited yet.....( in Washington)....I've not gone to Puyallup Ridge either but understand that a years pass now costs $165 which seems a bit steep for a visit to a lookout. Let's go!!! Please include me on Lookout Mt ( by Marblemount) too.....you will NOT be able to visit any lookouts on the Yakima reservation unless you befriend a tribal member and get him/her to accompany you to the lookouts there. They do not let anyone casually visit stuff on the rez....( although a certain nwhikers person with the initials LB has been to 2 illegally....Satus and Lakeview Mountain)

[Dean]

Great list Eric. Just doing lookouts every weekend is enough to keep you totally busy. Way to go. I knew I'd forget some: Snow Mtn (Oregon - closed) Vinegar Hill (Oregon - gone) Lookout Mtn (near Prairie City - gone) Great places but even better when still existing and maintained.

[Eric]

[Riverside Laker]

It's fun tagging lookout sites. This year I've only been to Davis, Lookout, Cispus, Hurricane Hill, both Craters, Church, Pilchuck, and Hidden Lakes. Lifelist total is only 69. Got me eye on the elusive Blackjack Ridge, near Silverton. We followed the abandoned trail from Mallardy Ridge over three peaks of 400'P but didn't drop far enough down Blackjack Ridge to find any lookout site. I suspect it's considerably lower than Kresek's information... perhaps at el. 3100. One of the proprieters of a Silverton antique store used to go up there. My guess is the old trail up there was right across the river from the Marten Creek trail. If anyone is interested in a brushbash to find this spot PM me. After trying the old road paralleling the river (ultra brushy) it might be easier to ford the river at the campground and fight the jungle. Maybe trail remnants remain...

[mgd]

Dufus, you might want to check with Sawyer or Lopper. assuming they haven't bagged this lookout already. BTW, what would you say is the best lookout you have been to?

[Riverside Laker]

Hard to pick a favorite, but here are some superb lookout sites for many different reasons: Adams, Crater, David, Flower Dome, Gardner, Jumbo, Kodak, Lassen, Miners Ridge, Pugh, Remmel, Stilleto, Three Fingers. Round (just did that yesterday, forgot to mention). No evidence of a building but we found trail remnants pretty high on the mountain. A buddy of mine says the following six are the "best" lookouts: Three Fingers Pugh Crater Pyramid MacGregor David I've checked with Sawyer and he hasn't been to Blackjack.

[Eric]

Hmm now I'm curious where that Blackjack lookout is at. I assume that you covered both Point 4519 and then 4285 and saw no signs at either place Dufus? The next most obvious place besides that would seem to be on the bench between 3000-3400 feet or so. Weird info in both books. Kresek gives the elevation as 4400 plus or minus but states that it is located along the NW point of the ridge so you would think he would indicate Point 4285. Spring has some obviously incorrect info at least at present as he states it is in Township 30 as well as saying there is road access. But his elevation of 4519 matches the SE highpoint of the ridge. Steve Fox says "Blackjack Ridge peaks w/DF. Abandoned trail nearly gone. Very brushy. Didn't find lookout." http://www.eskimo.com/~sfox/SJF/HIKE/h2003.htm Couldn't find anything else on google except a bunch of crap on the blackjack ridge in the icicle. This is a fairly new USGS as such things go. I wonder perhaps if the previous incarnation of the Silverton quad or even the one before that given that this lookout was waxed in 1950 would have the location marked? The ridge leading off from right below the campground looks to have about the most gradual slopes based on the topo and would seem like about the most direct and simple location from which to build a trail up to the ridgeline I would think.

[Riverside Laker]

Nope, didn't see anything there. Majors and McCollum mention the old trail, which is on the 1961 Mt Baker Nat'l Forest map. Check out this map he has:

[Dean]

Lookout Bob, We made the drive up to Sturgill via the Mann's Creek reservoir road and met Iris the lookout. That road is 21.5 miles to a saddle that is just below the lookout and the road is pretty decent its whole length. Iris mentioned that she has been there for ten years now and was able to point out the peaks in the to us. Any one heading to Weiser should consider stopping in and saying hello to Iris. Nice lady.