It was the final day of our trip before we had to make the long drive back to Oregon. The fall weather the forecast had been threatening had finally arrived and the Going-to-Sun road was officially closed for the season. We had one more fire lookout on our list to visit in the park and we weren’t going to let a little bad weather stop us. Although this hike and lookout are within the park boundaries, you have to exit the park to get there. We left our camp towards West Glacier and turned left onto HWY-2 to head farther east toward grey wet skies. The trailhead is located near the most southern tip of the park boundary behind the Walton Ranger station. It is signed and right off the highway on the lefthand side if you’re coming from West Glacier. We reached the trailhead just before 9:30AM and I was a little uneasy as we pulled into another empty parking lot. It wasn’t all too surprising given the conditions, but even still you could tell this trail saw less use than others. There were five spots with picnic tables that I assume are mostly for day use and an additional area for back country parking that could fit 3-4 cars. Our goal was Scalplock Mountain, but this was also a starting point for many different interconnecting trails into the back country.
It wasn’t raining when we started our hike, but all the plants were damp from the previous night. This quickly saturated our pants as we brushed through the denser areas. The hike starts along the Boundary Trail following the Middle Fork of the Flathead River and quickly turns into the forest to cross Ole Creek on a suspension bridge. Please only cross one hiker at a time as the sign states. After the crossing, the trail made a sharp turn to gain a bit of a hill which brought us to an open view. The low hanging clouds were lifting slightly, but we figured we would be hiking up to reach them soon enough. There was a light dusting of snow on top of the next ridge over. We decided not to consult our map to confirm if we’d be going that high. A little over one mile from the trailhead, we reached our first junction with the Ole Creek Trail. We turned left to stay on the Boundary Trail for another half of a mile to the next junction. The official Scalplock trail forked to the right here. This area seemed to be well signed and it was easy to stay on track. Once we left the Boundary Trail the real ascent began. The majority of the elevation gain was concentrated within the next 3-1/2 miles to the summit.
The water collected from the brush had completely soaked through my pants and was starting to seep into my shoes and socks. My rain jacket was able to keep the top half of me dry but the water made each step a little heavier. It was hard to tell if it was actually raining on us as the water dripped from trees above and fog rolled around us. Occasionally we’d get a break in clouds that offered views of the valley below. There are around 19 switchbacks to reach the summit from the Boundary Trail. There was only one spot that had some blow down. As we grew closer to the summit there were even a couple of sections that felt like false summits. We got our answer on if there would be snow within the last half mile as we crested an open portion of the ridge. Spoiler: there was snow. Garnet had hiked ahead at this point because I wanted to take more breaks than he needed. There was a bit more than a dusting on the protected slopes of the trail as it continued to gain elevation. This quickly turned our damp clothes painfully cold. It wasn’t too much farther to the lookout after I reached the snow line. We attempted to have our lunch on the summit but the combination of damp clothes, wind, and snow starting to fall kept our time short. I kept myself moving and stayed long enough to take a few pictures and finish my sandwich before heading back down. I didn’t expect much of a view but it was still disappointing there wasn’t a small break. Looking at other pictures online the summit offers great views of Mount Saint Nicolas and Mount Jackson to the north. Unfortunately, you can’t always wait around for the perfect weather to visit these places. I mean technically you can wait all you want (don’t let me stop you). But we’ve personally found waiting can be a matter of a fire lookout being there or not. It’s always a race against time as wildfires and age continue to claim them.
The hike down was fairly uneventful as rain settled in and we didn’t see anyone the entire hike. I thought this would have been a good place to see a bear, but we didn’t encounter much wildlife at all. It was very cold and wet by the time we reached the car. I decided to change at the trailhead to help myself warm up. We stopped to get warm food and drinks at the Glacier Highland Restaurant before returning to camp. Strava tracked this hike at 9.86 miles with 3,271′ of elevation gain.
History.
Scalplock Mountain is the southern most standing fire lookout within Glacier National Park and one of the four remaining that are still actively staffed in the summer. Though with budget cuts, staffing issues, and a push to move to camera surveillance it’s unclear how long this will remain to be true. It was built in 1931 as a 14’x14′ cab with 10′ enclosed tower and overhanging roof, a style favored by the NPS. The term Scalplock refers to a long lock of hair remaining on a shaved head worn by certain Native American warriors. According to Glacier Administrative History, the mountain received it’s name after a small tuft of trees remained on the summit after a fire burned through the area resembling a Native American’s scalplock. It was last refurbished in 1999 but appears to receive basic maintenance for upkeep. It is one of the nine fire lookouts that remain standing within the National Park.
Tuesday evening the weather started to shift towards colder temps and rain. We knew the rest of the trip would be a gamble weather-wise, but we were going to roll with whatever it dealt us. We were pleasantly surprised to wake up to blue skies Wednesday morning after a night of heavy rain. Our goal for the day was Huckleberry Mountain, a commonly used name. We even have one here in Oregon. This is another easy to locate trailhead right off a main road. From the Apgar Campground, we headed back towards the visitor center. At the intersection, we kept straight to continue on to Camas Road. If you were heading into the park from the West Glacier entrance, you would come to the same intersection but turn left to reach Camas Road. You will stay on this road, exiting through the Camas entrance kiosk, until you see the trailhead off to the left. There was enough parking for at least 7 or so vehicles, but we were the only ones there at 9AM. It was a bit unsettling knowing we’d be heading into bear country with no one else on the trail with us. Everywhere else we’ve been so far has had at least some people on the trails. The clear morning skies made it crisp and cold as we started our hike. You could tell this trail was less frequently used than the others just based on the width of the tread. The busier trails tend to widen as crowds circumvent each other, but this was nothing more than a single track with a bit of brush encroaching on it. The surrounding brush was still damp from the rain and slowly started to soak through our clothes.
The hike starts out flat through a dense forest and crosses a creek on a log foot bridge before it starts to gradually climb. Once the trail starts to turn up it continues that way until you reach a saddle. It is consistent but gradual. The trail flattens out for a bit after reaching the saddle before continuing the final climb to the fire lookout. The steepest portion of trail is the last half mile. We thought we might have the entire hike to ourselves, but were passed by a pair of hikers on our way up the gradual section. The day had heated up significantly after we started this hike making it slow going. Garnet decided to continue up ahead prior to the saddle to find a good spot to step off the trail while I picked my way up the slope. I thought I’d meet up with him once I reached the saddle, but I was greeted by the other pair of hikers picking huckleberries and having lunch. I asked them if my partner came through here while I caught my breath. They mentioned he passed through and offered to let me hike with them the rest of the way to the lookout. I was no longer too concerned about running into wild life at this point, but figured it couldn’t hurt to stick with more people. They were two older ladies and one lived in the area locally while the other was a visiting friend. The local had been on this hike before and had even met the lady that staffed the fire lookout that summer. She spent the rest of the hike pointing out different peaks we could see through the clouds and I talked about the other fire lookouts my partner and I visited so far in the area. I trailed behind a bit since my pace wasn’t quite as quick until I rejoined with them on the summit. I had once again assumed we would find my partner on the summit, but we were surprised to find no one else. I thought maybe he was in the privy, but that was locked up for the season. I was only mildly concerned since I knew he hiked ahead and planned to step off the trail to use the “facilities”, but I figured he would have still beat us to the summit. The ladies were nice enough to wait with me for a bit and even offered to let me hike back with them. I politely declined since we were still planning to have lunch on the summit and take our pictures, but we exchanged numbers just incase. We said our farewells and just as they started to hike away we could spot Garnet headed up the trail. The clouds were starting to roll in and the temps were getting cold again by the time he reached the summit.
We spent a while longer on the summit enjoying our lunch, but eventually it started to drizzle which was our cue to leave. Just as we were taking one final lap around the lookout and collecting our pictures, we spotted a deer in the brush. Then another. And another. And another. And another. It was a group of four adults and three baby mule deer. We decided to watch them for a while until they started to head closer to our packs, which were now sitting below the lookout and not on our backs. I assume they smelt our food, but I didn’t want them rummaging through it. They seemed habituated enough to not be concerned by our presence but our movement towards the packs was enough to keep them away. Heavier clouds were growing closer and the rain was finally upon us – that was enough dilly dallying. Garnet wanted to snag a few more pictures, so I gave myself a head start knowing he’d easily catch up to me. The hike back down was a wet one and we were completely soaked by the time we reached the car. The final mileage according to my Strava was 11.88 miles with 2,699′ of elevation.
Before heading back to camp we drove out to the edge of the park and did a small loop trail called the Forest and Fire trail. It was only an additional 0.95 miles with 66′ of elevation change. This had a few signs about the relationship between the forest and wildfires which we enjoyed.
History.
The first structure built on Huckleberry Mountain for fire detection was a cupola style cab in 1923. It even had a telephone line running to the summit. It was replaced in 1933 by the existing lookout structure. The current structure is noted as a 14’x14′ two story cab with a hip roof that extends to cover the catwalk. These national park designs differ from the USFS L-4 designs in that their shutters are removable instead of folding. This is one of nine remaining fire lookouts within Glacier National Park and is still regularly staffed during the season.
Monday was forecasted to be our nicest day of the week, so we allotted this for our hardest and highest elevation hike in the park. The end goal of the day was to reach Swiftcurrent lookout. No matter which way we sliced it the ascent was going to be difficult. You have three options when picking your starting point; the Loop, Logan Pass, or Many Glacier. The shortest option starts from the Loop trailhead, but requires the most elevation gain. This route is estimated around 12.5 miles RT with 4,200′ of elevation gain. If you start from Logan Pass instead, you are rewarded with the least amount of elevation gain but will have the most amount of mileage. This is estimated around 19 miles RT with only a little over 2,000′ of elevation gain out and back. During the peak season, you could shave off 3 miles by ending at the Loop trailhead and taking the shuttle back to Logan Pass. We unfortunately did not have the option for a shuttle during our visit. Your middle of the road option would be to start from Many Glacier. The route is estimated around 15 miles RT with 3,000′ of elevation gain. We immediately eliminated the Many Glacier route due to the location being on the Eastern side of the park and adding too much drive time. I debated starting us from Logan Pass since I can handle more mileage better than I can steep elevation, but 19 miles felt a bit out of reach for both of us. The only route that seemed obtainable during our visit was the one starting from the Loop. I wasn’t confident I would make it, but I wanted to at least give it a shot.
We tried to give ourselves as early of a start as possible and were at the parking lot by 9AM. This trailhead is easy to locate as a main pull off from the Going-to-the-Sun road on the western side of the park. It’s situated on a tight hairpin turn with parking above and below the corner. Make sure to be careful when crossing the road from the parking lot to the start of the trail, it is a blind corner and people take it faster than they should. The trailhead is fairly small since most visitors choose this as an ending point instead of a starting point. It sees most of its use during the summer when the shuttles are running and visitors are completing their hike of the highline trail. I didn’t expect to see as many people as you would in the summer, but I was surprised on how quiet it was for us. It seemed most cars were only parked for the roadside view point. We only saw a handful of people on the trail to and from the Granite Park Chalet. The amount of people around the chalet was a different story.
The trail starts out by undulating along a gradual slope for the first mile. The elevation starts to pick up gain around the first switch back. We had a decent view into the drainage below due to the area being burned over. This opened up the view to not only see Swiftcurrent throughout parts of the hike, but Heaven’s Peak for most of it as well. At first glance you might not notice the fire lookout on the edge of the ridge due to its stone structure blending with the surroundings. But, once we knew where to look it felt like the always watchful eye of Sauron (if you know, you know lol). It can be seen from a lot of hikes within the heart of the park if you know where to look. Despite its ever visual presence, the route to Heaven’s Peak has long since been abandoned. Although interesting this wasn’t on our agenda for the trip, so we turned our focus back towards Swiftcurrent. It wasn’t until after the second switchback that I started to feel a dull ache in my hip. I was already moving slow and knew I should have done more conditioning for this trip. I tried to convince my partner that he should hike on ahead, but he wasn’t willing to give up on me making it to the summit. It’s possible I was just too deep in my head about this one, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it and had that feeling from the start. I even had that feeling the day before, if I’m being honest. I started to feel bad that I was slowing my partner down and I didn’t want him to miss out on something I knew he’d have no problem completing otherwise. We had a direct view of Swiftcurrent once the trail started to turn away from the valley and into a more forested part of the slope. It looked deceivingly close from the vantage point. We hiked on with more determination, but seemingly not getting any closer. We knew we were finally close to the chalet when we reached the trail junction that lead to the backcountry campsites. We briefly debated whether we should check it out now or later, but I was hungry and tired and wanted to make it to the Chalet for lunch. We continued right at the fork for another 1/2 mile to the Chalet. It was just after 12PM and we had hiked roughly 4 miles with 2,600′ of elevation gain to get here. We had only seen three pairs of hikers on trail from the trailhead and there was only one couple sitting at a picnic table enjoying the view when we arrived. We decided on a table in the shade to have our lunch and figured the quiet was due to the lack of shuttles running.
It would have been novel to see the Chalet when it was open for the season and be able to buy convenience store snacks in the backcountry. I day dreamt about the combination I would have bought while we ate what we brought with us. I also considered how much easier it would have been to make it to Swiftcurrent if we were staying the night at the Chalet or even the backcountry campground. From the Chalet, it is roughly an additional 2 miles (4 miles RT) with 1,650′ of elevation gain and 40 switchbacks (yes, someone else counted them) to reach the lookout. I decided to seal my fate and hang back at the Chalet while Garnet made his summit attempt. If I ever get a chance to make another attempt, I would choose to break it up with a night at the campground. It took him around 3 hours round trip to make it there and back. I had a bit of service at the Chalet and was able to download an e-book from my library to read while I waited. The amount of people that were at the Chalet ebbed and flowed throughout the day ranging from only a handful to large loud groups. Most had hiked from Logan Pass and didn’t stay long since they still had to make the trek back. I had since moved myself to another picnic table facing the view in the sun after Garnet had departed. It was cold and windy in the shade after I had cooled down from our ascent. I was just trying to stay warm and entertained while I waited, but to the on lookers it appeared I was just another kid engulfed in my phone not appreciating the view. One might argue I’m projecting, but someone felt the need to make a comment close and loud enough so I would hear them. Little did they know I had been there for 2 hours already. It rubbed me the wrong way, plus the book I was reading wasn’t that engaging, so I decided to stew on it for the remaining hour instead. It made me regret not bringing the extra weight of my book up with me, no one would have said anything if I had my nose in a physical book. Eventually, the flow of people dwindled and the Chalet was eerily quiet. I figured he must be getting close and decided to stroll around the grounds. My intrusive thoughts decided to take hold at this point. What if he already came back and didn’t find me so he continued back to the car? What if he’s hurt? Does it make more sense to start hiking back to the car without him before it gets dark? I picked a different bench to sit on with these thoughts for a while that had a plain view of the trail junction. There was only a late afternoon pair of hikers that came while I was sitting here and then a solo hiker that was very excited to have made it. He said something about his time that it took to get there from Logan Pass and it sounded quick for the mileage. I took a few pictures for him to help him commemorate. He wondered off toward the Chalet and I was finally able to see Garnet headed down the trail. He looked tired, sweaty, and happy. All the signs of a successful summit.
Garnet’s Pictures from the Summit
Our reunion was brief as we needed to continue our hike if we wanted to make it back to the car before dark. On our descent we decided to quickly stop over at the backcountry campground. We figured we wouldn’t be back for a while and that we might as well see it while we were here. There was also a slight morbid fascination with The Night of the Grizzlies story that motivated our visit. It was a simple backcountry campground with about 4 spots to choose from and a designated cooking/food area. We continued our hike down with little to note besides stopping to check out a couple birds (bohemian waxwings?) and leap frogging with another pair of hikers to the parking lot. The sun was starting to set by the time we reached the car and it was almost completely set by the time we made it back to camp. It was a whole day affair. In total, I tracked our hike at 8.86 miles RT with 2,631′ of elevation gain (Garnet obviously hiked more to reach Swiftcurrent but doesn’t use a tracker).
History.
Built in 1936 by the CCC, Swiftcurrent is one of the few remaining fire lookouts staffed within the Glacier National Park. It offers a unique design mimicking a Swiss Chalet similar to the same design elements applied to the Many Glacier Hotel. The two-story 14’x14′ timber cab with gabled roof sits atop a 10′ natural stone base. It offers the highest point accessible via trial within the park. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
My partner and I usually like to plan 2 separate week long trips during the year. These are sometimes combined to make a longer 2-week trip, but those are usually allotted for above and beyond destinations we both agree upon. To keep things fair, we each get to plan what we do during one of the weeks. Garnet’s decision for 2023 was another lookout road trip around Oregon (post). My destination of choice took us a bit farther to break ground in a new state and National Park, or new to me at least. I can’t explain what draws one destination or another to the top of my list, but Montana and Glacier National Park were calling my name this year. We decided to gamble on a late season arrival to help mitigate the crowds. It is arguably our favorite time to travel. But, you always run the risk of early season snow, late season fires, or rain for 9-days straight. It’s always good to have some sort of back up plan incase of said conditions. Once the forecast was in reach, it wasn’t looking promising with rain and snow predicted for higher elevations most of the week. I’m not sure why, but I couldn’t bring myself to move on or even think about a potential plan B. the weather be damned I wanted to go to Montana.
I won’t bore you with the details of our route from Portland to West Glacier, but we were roughly on the road for 11 hours straight Saturday. We made minimal stops with breaks to stretch our legs and refuel the car. Keep in mind you do lose an hour of your day when traveling from Pacific to Mountain time. We left early enough to watch the sunrise from our vehicle and arrive in Glacier NP late afternoon before sunset. Glacier offers many different types of campgrounds to choose from throughout the park depending on where you want to be located and what time of year you are visiting. A few of the campgrounds were already closed for the winter season and a few more would be closing during our stay. I decided on the Apgar Campground given its year round availability and proximity to our intended destinations. I didn’t have to fight for my life on Recreation.gov to get a reservation at the 6-month opening either (something you might have to do during the peak season). I did delay my booking a bit too long though (I got too comfortable) and missed out on having the same camp spot for the entire trip. Luckily, I noticed the dwindling options before it was out of hand and we only had a different camp spot for our first night. There are some things to keep in mind if you decide to visit that might differ from our experiences. For example, the Going-to-the-Sun road was being repaved along Lake McDonald during our visit. This added wait time and a bumpy gravel portion to enter the park. Most of the amenities such as shuttles, lodges, chalets, and higher elevation visitor centers were already closed for the season. The Going-to-the-Sun road closed for the season mid-way through our trip. Access to the Bowman and Kintla areas were closed due to road construction. We were visiting outside the needed day-use vehicle registration period. These were all things we were aware of and prepared for during our stay. It’s just a reminder that I can’t stress enough – it is always important to do your own due diligence before visiting a National Park.
Our first full day in the park, Sunday, was more of what I would like to consider an introductory day. The first hike I had planned was the easiest of our fire lookout hikes and would help set the tone for the rest of the week. It was still located close enough to camp for us to pack up and move spots. And if time allowed, I wanted to stop in at the Apgar visitor center. Getting to the Apgar Lookout trailhead can be a bit confusing since it’s not as well marked as other trailheads. The road is located between the west entrance kiosk and the Apgar visitor center before you turn onto the Going-to-the-Sun road. It’ll be off to your left with a sign for Apgar L.O. if you are just entering the park or off to your right if coming from the campground. Continue straight until the road bends. There will be a gravel road off to the left (this heads towards the Glacier Institute Field Camp) but you will want to stay on the main paved road that continues right. Shortly after bearing right there will be an open gravel area to the left with a skinny one lane gravel road – head for this road. If you continue straight you will enter private property. From this junction, it is roughly 2 miles to the trailhead. There was no signage that I could see to indicate we were on the right road during our visit. The road eventually leads you over an old wooden bridge to cross McDonald Creek. Once across the bridge, we followed the gravel road to where it dead ends. This road can be narrow and a little rough in some sections, but any standard clearance vehicle should be able to make it here with caution.
We reached the trailhead around 9:30AM with only three other cars parked in the lot (our car being the fourth). This is definitely one of the less popular trails within the park despite it being closest to the west entrance. I had a bit of anxiety starting this hike since we both had no real experience hiking in grizzly country. We had extensively read up on the recommended Bear Safety tips prior to this trip, but putting them to practice is a different story. The basics are to make noise, travel in groups, don’t run on trails, carry bear spray, be aware of your surroundings, and secure your food/garbage. We had bear spray strapped to the outside of both of our packs. An important step as this does not provide any defense if it’s tucked away within your backpack. But, we found the hardest for us was learning to make noise on the trail. This went against our norm and felt unnatural to call out occasionally. We found clapping our hands or my trekking poles was an easier alternative. I thought about acquiring a bear bell to help with this, but I found that REI does not carry them anymore and it is no longer recommended as an adequate tool for bear safety. I even read somewhere that bears can mistake the jingle as the sound of prey having the opposite effect. These are just words of caution since we saw plenty of unprepared visitors during our stay. I understand that most people have the mentality that this won’t ever happen to them and in most instances that will be true, but it only takes one chance encounter for things to escalate. This applies to most things when recreating outside though. If you are wondering why these precautions are in place then I’d recommend reading the true story of Night of the Grizzlies by Jack Olsen and how the park was managed prior to that.
The trail starts out fairly flat following the old road bed and climbing gradually towards the base of the mountain. The surrounding forest is brushy and dense due to fire damage accumulated from two major fire scars. The first was in 2003 when the Roberts Fire burned through 58,000 acres near Lake McDonald. That year was considered one of the most destructive fire seasons for Glacier, totaling 136,000 acres burned or around 13% of the park. The second was more recently in 2018 when the Howe Ridge Fire burned 14,522 acres through the existing scar. After about a mile you will reach the base of the mountain and start the real climb via three long switch backs to the summit. Make sure to carry enough water since the majority of this hike is exposed. We found it to be overly humid and hot even this late in the season. The next 2.5 miles are spent climbing around 1,700′ of elevation. You will know you are close once the trail flattens out to hike towards the eastern slope of the ridge. Situated just below the fire lookout is a pit toilet and hitching post for horses.
We only passed one trail runner and a group of four heading down while on our way to the summit. We had the lookout to ourselves briefly before another pair and a solo hiker joined us. We decided to eat our lunch just below the catwalk in the shade of the lookout. The views from the fire lookout and base are slowly becoming obstructed by the surrounding trees. We could still see out to a nice view of Lake McDonald and the Apgar village below. I briefly chatted with the other pair of hikers about Washington and our travel time/distance to Glacier as we were getting ready to start our hike down. They had noticed my WSU hat and mentioned they used to live in Seattle (but now resided in Pennsylvania if I remembered correctly). They had flown in and rented a car to get here, but still had a travel day just as long as us. Our consensus was that there is no quick way to get to Glacier NP and wished each other a good remainder of our respective trips. The hike back down was brutally hot and we passed a lot more people than we saw that morning, even a couple on horses. This was still nothing in comparison to the amount of people we would see on other trails in the park. The Strava app tracked our hike at 7.24 miles RT with 1,923′ of elevation gain.
I was happy to see we still had enough time to stop in at the visitor center before heading back to camp. Though I was disappointed to find they had no magnets or other paraphernalia that showcased their many fire lookouts. I still decided to get a magnet with Lake McDonald and we upgraded to a more detailed map of the park. We also decided to talk to the rangers onsite to see if they had any additional insight. Unfortunately the ranger we spoke with did not have the detailed information we were hoping for, but he did his best to answer our obscure questions about the fire lookouts in the park.
History.
The fire lookout and surrounding area are all named after Milo Apgar. He was among one of the first settlers to set up permanent residence along Lake McDonald in the early 1890s. Milo helped develop the area by building homes and cabins for tourists, which is now known as the Apgar Village within the park. Though I highly doubt Apgar was the first, he just happened to be one of the first of the white men. The original lookout structure on Apgar was completed in 1929. Ironically, the structure burned down only 2 weeks later during a forest fire. It was immediately replaced with an exact replica in the spring of 1930 and still stands today. This is a standard national park 2-story cab design that has a 10′ tower and 14’x14′ cab. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of nine remaining fire lookouts within Glacier National Park. Although this tower is no longer staffed during the season, it remains as a standing exhibit for visitors to enjoy.
Friday, September 1st – The Summit Point trailhead is best accessed from HWY-86 via NF-77 to NF-7715 just before reaching Halfway, Oregon. We initially drove past this junction to check out the fire lookout at the Pine Ranger Station (post). After a quick stop, we back tracked to turn onto NF-77. This junction on HWY-86 is signed, but for some reason is labeled as the Summit Creek L.O. instead of Summit Point. I’m not sure if it was actually ever referred to as such or if it was just a misprint too costly to fix. We drove roughly 11 miles on NF-77 before we reached another signed junction with NF-7715 to the right and the McBride Campground to the left. The sign on the NF-7715 road was correctly labeled and stated there were 5 more miles to reach the trailhead. We already knew we wouldn’t have enough time to make it to a backcountry camp before dark and turned into the McBride Campground to see if there were any available spots for the night. This is a free unmaintained campground that offers fire pits, picnic tables, and pit toilets that were surprisingly stocked with toilet paper. There is also water access along the Summit Creek from most of the camp spots. I was surprised to find an empty campground given that it was a Friday on Labor Day weekend. We picked a camp spot on the far right end near the creek to set up. This put us the farthest away from the entrance if someone did decide to join us later in the evening. Dinner was simple since we only had our backpacking food and equipment to fuss with. We fell asleep to a light rain and some nearby thunder, but I hoped it would clear up by morning.
Saturday, September 2nd – We still had the campground to ourselves when we awoke the next morning. The skies were cloudy and slightly threatening in comparison to the day prior. The pack up was simple and quick, but we still weren’t on the road until after 8:30AM. We are not early risers by any means and didn’t feel the need to rush given our proximity to the trailhead. The NF-77 road had been a good gravel road all the way up to the junction with the McBride Campground. There had been a few minor rocks or potholes, but nothing extraordinary. The start of NF-7715 wasn’t daunting and we hoped for similar conditions. I had read from a prior trip report that “most any vehicle with normal clearance can negotiate it, taking care in the bad spots”. We found this to be accurate and it took us 46 minutes to drive the 5 miles to the trailhead (my car’s odometer calculated it at 4.6 miles). I will say some of the bad sections were a bit intimidating, but going slow and thinking through your wheel placement helps. We were more determined to make it all the way since we would be backpacking beyond the fire lookout. We were also met by a truck coming down when we were heading up in a tricky spot. I wasn’t able to move out of the way due to washout on the road. They were nice enough to back up and let us pass, but I felt bad that I had to take up the whole road. There is ample parking at the trailhead and my Civic stuck out among the 4 other pick up trucks. It was not surprising to see people here since it was elk bow hunting season during a holiday weekend. The road continues beyond the trailhead parking for the lookout attendant to access the tower. There was a gate blocking this at one point, but I guess someone felt it was an inconvenience to them. We started our hike up the road with 45lbs each on our backs for the long weekend. We both hadn’t been backpacking much this summer due to our house duties and could feel the weight immediately. Garnet’s new bike commute is a marathon every day, 13 miles each way, that helps keep him fit. I’m not as active during the week since I drive to work and have a desk job, so one can assume I was feeling it a bit more than him. We are normally able to slip away for a night in the backcountry here and there throughout the summer to keep our backpacking legs in shape, but that hasn’t happened much this season either. I quickly fell behind as we continued to follow the road. I reached the junction where the road to the lookout continued to the right and our “trail” turned into an old road bed. I decided to drop my pack here to catch up with Garnet. The Strava app stated it was only 0.9 miles from the trailhead to the base of the fire lookout. The attendant must have had the day or weekend off since no one was onsite during our visit. This is an actively staffed fire lookout and it seemed too early for their season to be over. After taking in the view and some pictures, we headed back to where I dropped my pack. I reloaded my back with the 45lbs and we turned to continue on the official “trail” into the wilderness.
The Cliff River Trial #1885 starts out by following an old road bed that climbs up and over a hill to reach the meadow below Cornucopia Peak. We had to cross through a cattle guard and follow the fence line to reach the official wilderness boundary. The trail through the meadow can get convoluted with the many different user and game trails. We just followed the most defined of the trails to the base of Cornucopia Peak. If you have the time and energy to do some off trail navigation, Cornucopia Peak offers a rustic trail to a former fire lookout site. That wasn’t in our cards for this trip, but it was tempting being so close. Garnet had spotted an old hunting or mining cabin across the meadow on the way in and wanted to check it out while we were here. I decided to stop for snacks and to filter more water at a spring while he was off looking for the cabin. Our plan was to continue our climb along the Cliff River Trail to Crater Lake for the night. The Cliff River Trail continued to the left of Cornucopia Peak and steadily climbed up to a pass that met up with the Sullivan Trail #1946. I thought this was novel since my last name is Sullivan. From there, the trail dips down before climbing to another pass that meets up with the Pine Lakes Trail #1880. There is a lot of exposure along this section of trail and it is best done during a cooler day. I wouldn’t recommend it during the heat of summer. There was also quite a bit of erosion along this portion due to the loose scree texture of the slope. It’s not a matter of if, but when, this trail will eventually wash out. I’m not even sure trail maintenance would be able to help solve this issue given the terrain. Once at the second pass, you can see your destination off in the distance. The trail heads down from here to wind around the base of Granite Mountain until you reach the junction with the Little Kettle Creek Trail #1945. The Cliff River Trail continues all the way down to the South Fork Imnaha River, but to access Crater Lake we turned left onto the Little Kettle Creek Trail. It’s only a short distance along the Little Kettle Creek Trail to the lake. The hike from the trailhead to Summit Point and then on to Crater Lake had been 8.2 miles with 2,148′ of elevation gain. I’m not sure what it is about the Eagle Cap Wilderness, but it always seems to chew me up and spit me out rotten. Garnet had continued on ahead of me after we had reached the final pass and said he was getting ready to send out the search parties by the time I reached the lake. I dropped my pack once we found our camp for the night and laid on a nice cool rock for 30 minutes before moving again. Despite only seeing one couple hiking out from the Pine Lakes Trail, we shared the lake with two groups for the night. One was just a couple as well and the other was a group of six plus a few dogs.
Sunday, September 3rd – I had already decided the day prior that today was going to be a rest day. Garnet had previously mentioned hiking down to the South Fork Imnaha River, but we were both too tired after yesterdays hike. We spent the majority of the day reading and lounging around camp. Both groups that were camped at the lake packed up to either head out or hike deeper into the wilderness. This left the lake to us for the evening. We took a stroll around the perimeter of the lake to check out the other vacant camp spots. There were about 3 or 4 decent spots including ours and a couple of flat spots that would make due in a pinch. Despite getting quite a few people hiking past us along the Little Kettle Creek Trail, none stopped to camp at the lake. They all seemed to be heading back out to the trailhead, either Eagle East TH or Little Kettle Creek TH, coming from somewhere else within the wilderness. At one point during the day we were able to spot a mountain goat on the side of the ridge between Granite and Red Mountain. We watched it for a long time with our binoculars picking its way along the steep rocks. We gave up when some low hanging clouds rolled in to obstruct our view. Crater Lake sits just below 7,600′ which kept the temperatures cold all day. Rain rolled in later that evening and we could hear some distant thunder storms during the night. This made our tent feel extra cozy, but I hoped for clear skies in the morning.
Monday, September 4th – We initially planned to move our camp to Pine Lakes for the final night of our trip. But, after seeing how far we’d have to hike out to the Summit Point TH combined with the long drive home, we decided camping closer to the trailhead made more sense. The rain from the evening prior had thankfully stopped, but the clouds were still hanging low. We decided to try and find a camp for the night in the meadows below Cornucopia Peak. This would set us up for a much shorter hike out on Tuesday. The climb out from Crater Lake felt much easier than the hike in. Our packs were lighter than when we had started and the cloud coverage helped to keep the heat of the sun off of our backs. We only saw a group of three hiking into Crater Lake as we were hiking out. After 5.4 miles and 808′ of elevation gain we found ourselves back at the meadow. We knew there was a least one camp spot near the old cabin Garnet had checked out prior, but we decided to take a look around to see if there were any others among the trees. This is a popular area for cattle grazing, so it was hard to find a flat spot that wasn’t littered with cow pies. We eventually found a very old one set back from the trail with a fire ring that hadn’t been used in years. After setting up camp, I decided to take a hike over to the cabin since I didn’t check it out with Garnet. It was a surprisingly nice kept cabin that definitely is utilized by someone. The door frame was comically small and even shorter than me. I’m not sure the history of this cabin, but I would love to know. I realized you could see Summit Point from the cabin area and took a look at it through the binoculars. There was still no one there that I could see. We had a bit of service in camp and decided to check if there was a burn ban in effect for this area. There was not. We don’t normally go to the trouble of building a fire while backpacking, but it was cold and walking through the damp grass made our boots wet. This helped to keep us warm for the evening.
Tuesday, September 5th – We woke up to clearer skies and decided it might be worth making a trip back out to Summit Point for some better views. The hike out was going to be much shorter today, but we still had a 6-1/2 hour drive home. We saw quite a few people as we were heading out. Once we gained a view of the fire lookout again, we could see someone moving around in the cab. We decided to definitely make an extra side trip back since we were hopeful to meet the lookout attendant. We both dropped our packs at the junction this time and hiked the remaining distance along the road. As we approached the fire lookout we were surprised to see no vehicle. This was confusing since we definitely saw someone from a distance in the cab. There were also fresh tire marks on the road that hadn’t been there at the start of our trip. We also noticed the catwalk door was now open. All signs pointed to someone being there. The sun was positioned awkwardly where I couldn’t really see inside the cab from the ground. We weren’t sure if they had just left or if someone had dropped them off. As we walked around to take in some more pictures and better views, we both thought we could hear someone walking around in the cab. We stood where they could see us and decided to locate all the visible surrounding fire lookouts in hopes that they would come out to greet us eventually. After sometime we realized they probably didn’t want any visitors and said our good-byes to Summit Point. As we were turning around to leave Garnet said he saw the woman open the door to the cab, but I only heard the door when she shut it again. It was a bit odd since it seemed like she was going to come out to talk to us, but then decided against it. It’s possible she just thought we were another pair of hunters scoping the view for game. Regardless, It’s their space and should be respected. We hiked back to our packs and made the final decent to the car. The hike from our camp in the meadows to Summit Point and then back to the trailhead came out to 3.3 miles with 334′ of elevation gain. We decided to start a tradition of getting burgers after backpacking in Eagle Cap. Our first trip to the wilderness was in 2021 where we did a week long loop through a lesser used portion. It was rough and beautiful, but that trip kicked our butt too. We hiked out a day earlier than planned to get burgers and a beer at Terminal Gravity in Enterprise. They were the best burgers we’ve ever tasted (possibly because we had been eating trail mix and dehydrated food for a week). This trip we made our way to The Main Place restaurant in Halfway before heading home. Their burgers tasted pretty good as well.
History.
Summit Point was first established as a fire detection site in the 1930s when a 20′ open platform tower was built on the north end of the ridge. Construction for a new tower began on the most southern end of the ridge in 1949 and wasn’t completed until 1951. This move was noted due to constant fog obstructing the view from the northern end. The lookout built was a 20′ treated timber tower with a 14’x14′ L-4 cab. It is still actively staffed every season.
The Labor Day weekend has become historically smoke filled over the past few years where planning ahead doesn’t bode well for the eager traveler. It has started to feel like any place we decide on as our final destination will ultimately catch on fire or be in the direct line of smoke by the time the holiday arrives. Our Plan A moves to Plan B moves to Plan C. This year we had to ditch all three of our potential plans due to smoke and fire closures. We’ve avoided most of Oregon’s wildfire season thus far by focusing on projects at home, but that hasn’t stopped it from coming nonetheless. Our current wildfires have been fairly mild in comparison to other states and years prior, but the smoke has been heavy. The source of said smoke has been completely dependent on which way the wind was blowing that day. As the week prior to Labor Day progressed, we searched for alternatives. The AirNow map has become our best friend when trying to plan around the air quality and smoke. But, as soon as we thought we had a Plan D set in place the weather started to shift. The forecast called for rain and thunderstorms across the majority of the state. We were now dodging poor weather conditions on top of the smoke and we had to ditch our plans once more.
This trip has been much anticipated since we have spent the majority of August, and even parts of July, scraping and painting around the trim of our house. Yes, it’s as fun as it sounds. We are currently on the do it yourself budget which is affordable and rewarding, but comes with the hefty cost of our personal time. I was able to escape my responsibilities for a weekend at the beginning of August (post), but Garnet hasn’t been out since our road trip (post). Needless to say we planned to be absolutely feral in the woods for 5-days of backpacking no matter where we ended up. We eventually settled on a Plan E the night before departure. Our final plan (so we thought) was to make a loop through the Eagle Cap Wilderness starting and ending in Cornucopia. We planned to make stop overs to the fire lookouts in the area at the Pine Ranger Station and Summit Point as well. The weather only called for a 20-30% chance of precipitation with potential for occasional thunderstorms and temperatures ranging from high 60s/low 40s.
We woke up Friday morning later than planned since we stayed up late the night prior prepping for our trip. We were further delayed as we realized we left our ranger maps, road atlas, and Garnet’s binoculars on the roof of the car after starting our drive. This added a trip back to our house retracing our route in hopes that they were not a complete loss. We were unsuccessful in finding any of the items as we pulled into our drive way to regroup. Once resituated we headed out towards I-205 again to connect to I-84. As we were pulling out of our neighborhood, I spotted them. Some kind stranger must have picked them up from the road and neatly set them on the street corner. This corner had been blocked from our view by a car on the drive back. We were thankful for this act of kindness and continued on our way. We think someone might have ran over the binoculars, but the optics were thankfully still intact. This delay set us back significantly though. We knew we wouldn’t have enough time to make the hike in to our original destination and would have to change our plans once again. As we made the drive east via I-84 towards Baker City, I proposed a modified route. Instead of starting in Cornucopia, we would start from the Summit Point trailhead and hit our intended destinations as an out and back. This would also allow us to car camp near the trailhead for an earlier start the next morning.
We continued on I-84 the majority of the drive until we reached the junction with HWY-86 towards Halfway. We decided it made the most sense to make a pit stop at the Pine Ranger Station before heading into the forest. There is a fire lookout located there and it is easily accessible if you are in the area. From HWY-86, we turned right onto Sawmill Cutoff Lane. This is just before the turn off for Halfway and there is a sign for the Ranger Station near the junction. The Ranger Station is only a short distance down this road off to the right. It is near the junction with Pine Town Lane, but it should be obvious and signed. We pulled into the visitor parking area just before 5pm. The Ranger Station was already closed for the day, but you can see the tower from there. We walked to the right of the visitor center following the road to the back quarters. There was an authorized personnel only sign that we decided to ignore. I think this is more of a grey area and intended for visitor vehicles since Ranger Stations are open to the public. There were even a few people out, but no one said anything to us as we walked back to take pictures of the fire lookout. We didn’t stay long enough to be a naissance or a concern to those onsite anyway. I’m sure if the Ranger Station had been open and you wanted to ask to see it they would happily agree.
History.
There is little information available on this fire lookout. It is located on the grounds of the Pine Ranger Station, also known as the Pine Field Office, just 2 miles southeast of Halfway. It was built in 1938 as a 52′ treated timber tower with 7’x7′ cab. It is also referred to as the Halfway Lookout and is still used during emergencies. It is unclear when it was last used and if it was ever used for consistent fire detection. A Ranger onsite might know the story, if you stop in during visiting hours. There is now a fence around the tower to keep unwanted guests from climbing it.
The Roaming Civic 