[lookout bob]

I did a work party with WTA at kelly butte last friday. Went down thursday night with a friend and camped at the logging platform just NE of the trailhead. Ran up to the lookout and yakked with the volunteer there. I found the lookout to be in pretty good shape. ( there's always stuff to do which I noted in my head but will not be volunteering to do.....) I went back down to camp with my friend. We spent hours sitting and watching a herd of goats wander up and down the cliffs on the southeast side of Kelly Butte and watching the clouds thicken and settle in. It rained a good half inch during the night but I managed to stay totally dry in my relatively new tent. Morning found puddles and clearing so we headed to the trailhead to do the work party with WTA. There is a fire burning North of Rainier which you can barely see in this picture

I'm told they are letting it burn and watching it. We did a bunch of work on the trail closing some cut switchbacks, removing the huge step just before one gets to the meadows, installing some rock steps on the last rocky rise just before one gets to the lookout and putting in some drains. There is much work remaining.

the huckleberries in the upper meadows are just past their prime but are delicious and plentiful. Go now before they turn to wine...

Kelly Butte will always be a special place for me. I think I must've topped fifty trips there by now. It is great that it is mostly staffed by volunteers which will definitely reduce the amount of senseless vandalism there. I'm pleased to report that volunteers have begun sanding out the initials and graffiti that have been carved into the railings. I think it's grand when folks are involved. Keep the lookout open and pristine for others.

[nordique]

Thanks for all your work on lookouts and especially Kelly Butte (one of our favorites)! We visited it last week:

With Chris on the right. For me, my 77th hike so far this year, for a total of 393 miles, with 100,420 feet of vertical gain, plus 45 sessions at Vertical World in Seattle.

[HikerJohn]

Bob, Kelly Butte would not have come back to where it is at without your leadership and passion. I was only able to "pack mule" up materials, but you had the know-how and dedication to get others involved and look what has resulted. And yes, we have been sanding and scraping a lot to stop the graffiti-- wish we could get folks to stop doing it in the first place. Yes, there is more to do (still working on a better system to secure the shutters during the winter, we have a plan for a re-route of the trail to a better route, and perhaps soon to re-open the trail down towards Lester) but none of us would be enjoying KB without you! Thanks for all you did (and continue to do!). Yours, John

[lookout bob]

John....thank you for YOUR work at Kelly Butte too. I appreciate the sanding out of idiot graffiti on the railings. I hope you'll come up with a good system for holding the shutters closed soon. It is not good to screw them to the building. That damage will eventually need repair too. I walked the pin flagged reroute and didn't think much good about it. What good does it do to reroute the trail and then reconnect it back in to other crumby trail? And, as far as the trail down to Lester, I think it's a pipe dream. Really, why? Tacoma City Light has bulldozed all the remaining buildings in Lester ( sadly) and really doesn't want folks there. the trail down from Kelly Butte comes in in the watershed so you would be trespassing if you reestablished that trail. You'd have to reroute many hundreds of yards at the bottom to not trespass so why do all that work? I kinda gave up on the idea myself. But it would be fun to walk down once if transport could be arranged. I certainly wouldn't want to go up 8 miles..... Lazy Bob. the trail needs major work in many places but the happy thought is there to do more work on it. I hope it'll be brushed and drainage established in many places that need it. Again, thanks for hosting and doing great work just to keep it from being vandalized more. Happy thoughts for the lookout!!!

[HikerJohn]

Hey Bob, The idea of the flagged reroute was to avoid the "fall line trail" that exists right now and prevent more erosion-- plus is is a SLIGHTLY better grade. It actually breaks away from the main trail just before it hits the crest (and that humongous trench), goes left then switches back once you are on top. Then it comes back right and only touches the current trail on the top for about 20 yards then breaks back off to the left. The only reason it even touches the current trail for that short distance is to avoid having to cut through trees-- but we may even try doing a bit of that. Then to decommision the old trail, we'll have to dig some pretty deep side trenches to divert the water away. None of this will happen this year, but I"m hoping we can take a poke at this next year. Why the Lester trail? I dunno-- I just think we shouldn't let good trails fade away-- and yea, it might take some re-routing at the bottom, but I've never been to the bottom, so I don't know how hard that is!

[Brushbuffalo]

[D. Inscho]

[Brushbuffalo]

[HikerJohn]

[Malachai Constant]

We had an extended conversation with the FS employee currently at Miners Ridge LO. It turns out that the FS has quite detailed instructions on how to restore historic lookouts. Perhaps this came about after the Green Mountain debacle. The instructions specif materials, structures, and training required. Materials have to be historically appropriate. It was a very interesting conversation.

[nordique]

I love visiting these historic lookouts--and I appreciate the efforts to protect them from all the yahoos intent on wrecking these great vantage points!

[Brian R]

Thanks for the update--and your hard work! Last time I was up there, four or five years ago, I rode my mountain bike from Greenwater to the trailhead, then hiked to the top. I recall it was early season--and the place was infested with ticks. FWIW. Still, the views were magnificent.