Trip Report.

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.