[Riptide Rush]

Lookout Mountain Lookout, Day Hike 10/30/2010 Well I’m sure many of you have done this hike before, so reading this report will be nothing new for most of you, but while perusing recent trip reports on the forum, (the most recent one being in June from D. Inscho) I thought a short trip report updating current conditions and some snowy pictures would be in order! (Plus I’m still sort of new here and my post numbers are pathetic at the moment) So here you go… Moose and I drove north as we watched an incredibly clear, red sunrise over the Cascades! It’s not supposed to be like this today. What’s going on? Could this beautiful weather hold out long enough for us to reach the lookout? Would the weather forecast be wrong like usual? Would we need snowshoes? Would it be another failed attempt like when we tried this hike last Spring? Arrived at the Trail Head with blue skies above us. We parked and off we went! Starting out on the steep switchbacks, grinding out elevation in the green mossy forest of Hemlock, Alaskan Cedars and Maples, most with just a few remaining yellow leaves left on their branches. At around 3 miles and at an elevation of 3500 feet, we reach the signpost, East to Monogram Lake, west to the lookout. Continue on, the trail now was not as steep as it was, easing up a bit and giving out calves a break. Patchy snow began showing up at around 4000 feet.

The allusive sign-post.

Sings of snow at 4000 feet.

Funky Fungi.

Once the trail opened up and we got out of the big old growth, the blue skies were no more. It looked like during our time in the forest, the clouds had rolled in, decreasing our visibility in a big way. Damn it! But what's that up ahead of us? The lookout? Yes! Nice!

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Substantially more snow now. Trail was completely covered, but we could see the faint outline of it buried under about 12 inches. Onward and up, thru some exposed areas, across some chutes and in and out of the trees a few times. As we gained elevation, the deeper the snow got. At this point Mother Nature decided to give us some fresh stuff as it began to really come down.

Moose in whiteout conditions.

Just a few hundred more feet to go!

No more trail now, so we made our own. Lookout was close in sight as we post holed the last few hundred feet. We had arrived.

Moose at the Lookout. Riptide in the sticks.

What a beautifully maintained lookout! Thanks Dan Trudeau for adopting this wonderful place. I’m sure its taken hundreds of hours and many volunteers to keep this place in such top-notch condition. This afternoon however, the only visitors were us and absolutely no views of anything except falling snow. We boiled water and made soup, warmed up for a bit and back down we went before the darkness came.

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Lookout register. (Picture idea stolen from Iron)

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Total hiking time 7 hours, 10 miles RT. 3800 feet gain. Thanks for reading! Riptide Out.

[veronika]

One of my favorites! I love this place! There was still snow last June when I went as well. June 27th I think... Nice photos and great report! Thanks for sharing.

[zoeylefty]

Did any of you lose a chilly glove? We went up Nov. 4th and found one.

[Riptide Rush]

Thanks Hit for reading! It’s a pretty spectacular place. I need to go back on a clear day for the views! Have you done Hidden lake Lookout, which is just a few miles east from the lookout Mt trail head? You probably have. That one in my opinion is probably one of the best “bang for the buck” day hike in that area!

[Riptide Rush]

Thanks Zoeylefty for the read! We are both good on the gloves. BTW was it a left or right one?

[D. Inscho]

Nothing like ascending in a snowy blow. That route you took is a steep, slippery thrash (been there). Thanks for the fun read & pictorial RR. It looks as though the shutters have still not been secured. Did you see if they are stowed below? I am hoping to get up there in the next clear spell to shutter the place for the winter. & BTW, you should give yourself some more credit, unless they shortened the mountain, you gained 4400'.

[Moose]

Thanks for writing up the trip report Riptide. Great hike as always! Not a lot of views but after all the great luck with weather we've had on hikes I can't complain. I'm looking forward to WINTER! A few more photos:

Descending clouds

Iced up