[JimK]

On Saturday Gary and I headed east for a hike up Mt. David. We have done it a number of times. It has always been in mid to late September. I am 18 years older than my first ascent and a little slower so we started early. We were up early and drove past Lake Wenatchee and to the end of the White River Road arriving at 7:10 am. This is a strenuous trip covering 14 miles RT with 5750' of elevation gain. The bushy area low on the climb to the ridge is a bit of a pain but not too bad. There are some logs to clamber over here too. Less than on our 2014 trip. The upper ridge has some great fall leaf colors. That is a prime reason for our September trips. We slowed down a lot after reaching the ridge top. Clear sky provided great views for photos along with the leaf colors. We reached the top at 12:18 pm and spent almost an hour and a half on top. Another reason for the early start. Almost zero wind and comfortable temperatures in the high 40s to the high 50s. We saw a total of 5 other hikers and one dog on the day. Lots of solitude to be found. A great day for a high summit. My full trip report with 54 photos and two video clips is at: Mt. David Report & Photos Here area a few photos:

White River

Leaves In Forest

Silvered Snags

First Summit Sighting

Red Huckleberry Leaves

Mt. Daniel

Mt. Whittier

Approaching Summit

Glacier Peak

Summit Outhouse

Great Color

Burn Colors

[Backpacker Joe]

Great pics there James. Thanks.

[puzzlr]

Beautiful shots - you picked a good day. I'm going to have to get up there one of these years.

[Bramble_Scramble]

Just got back to the house from this one. Wanted to hit it while the days are still reasonably long. Didn't see anyone after a mushroom hunter half mile up the David trail. I really wanted to see the Stone Throne but I wasn't sure where to look. The WTA said to turn left just before the summit but I missed it. Thanks for the picture, hopefully next time I'll find it.

[Dick B]

My dad ran a pack string for the FS back in the day and I was told that he packed the windows in for the lookout that was built on David. The terrain looks pretty daunting to me. Do you think the supervisors office would have any record of when and how the lookout was built. Is the loo the remaining evidence of the lookout?

[JimK]

The lookout was built in 1933 and removed in 1974 per this site: Mt. David The lookout building site was blasted flat and there are still short posts from a wire fence around it. not much else remains. Eric Willhite from this site has a trip report with two old photos of the lookout building. Eric's Report I'm not sure what the trail looked like 85 years ago but it seems to be awfully narrow on steep slopes for a pack string. Kudos to those who brought the materials up to the top.

[BeardoMcGrath]

Nice report! I was debating all summer to head out there but with this weekend's forecast it might have to wait until next year. Looks like September is the time to go though.

[Riverside Laker]

We (ree and I) were just up there a week ago and wondered the same thing about pack trains. Perhaps they packed up most of the way, until the steep switchbacks near the end, and materials were hoisted up to the top. This is the case at places like Crater, Pugh, McGregor, Sauk for example.

[Brushbuffalo]

Love that one! Good flat rock slab where the lookout building was, enough room for a 2-p tent. Second time I spent the night there was with my brother David.

[Zloi]

Thanks for the report. Great pix. This one has been on my hit list for a while. Someday...

[Nancyann]

Perfect time to be up there, Jim K. We also were wondering about how the pack stock managed on that narrow part of the trail, maybe it was mules, which are amazingly sure footed.

[Dick B]

I think in the early 30s my dad was packing with horses. Before my time, but I understand he operated a horse ranch at the forks of the White River at the time. He lost the ranch later due to the depression. He did run another string for a couple of summers later in life after the retired. I remember he told me he ran mules at that time, and preferred them to horses. I never watched my dad pack, but I was around horses some and they were not very sure footed. Not good in tight confined areas or unstable footing. Spooked pretty easily depending on the conditions. Is there any publications out there that would give some insight as to how a lot of those lookouts in difficult areas got built and supplied? I understand at one time there was a lookout on the top of Mt. Hood. Correct? Surely no packers took materials into that location.

[Brushbuffalo]

[Bramble_Scramble]

About the Mt. Adam's lookout on NHLR.org: This 12'x12' wood frame D-6 cupola ground cabin with 1/4 size second story cupola was built by the U.S. Forest Service in 1918. One of the hardest to reach lookouts in the U.S., materials were packed up the mountain by mules to 4 miles below the summit, then hauled by four men to the summit using a deadman/rope technique. The structure was in service from 1921 to 1924 as a fire lookout. In 1932, miners began extracting pure sulfur from the volcano's summit vent, and lived in the cabin. Two lean-to additions were tacked onto the original cabin for their use during the next decade. The entire building has been entombed in the summit glacier since mid-20th century and only becomes visible for a few weeks in very dry summers. Also check out the book Switchbacks by Andy Holland where he describes servicing and manning lookouts such as Circle Peak, Miners Ridge and Gee Point. Last Frontier of the North Cascades by Will Jenkins has a section on the building of Sourdough although I believe that was built from local materials as opposed to the prefab cabs that came later.

[OwenT]