Please reference our original trip report on Heybrook L.O. for information on the history of the lookout, status, our initial site visit, and directions (post).

Date revisited: March 31, 2024

Trip Report.

We found ourselves in Kirkland once again for the weekend visiting my friend, Anjelica. The reason for this trip was bittersweet since we were getting together to celebrate our mutual friend’s engagement and simultaneous going away party. Her and her now fiancé are moving to California to be closer to his family (and a multitude of other reasons). I already only get to see her a handful of times a year, so the move won’t be much of a change in that aspect. But, it still offers the emotional growing pains of early adulthood as we all search for our next steps in life. Last time Garnet and I were in the area together was for Friendsgiving in November, which is when said friends announced their upcoming move. We had debated making a trip to Heybrook L.O. before heading home then, since Garnet hadn’t been yet, but the weather wasn’t ideal at the time. This time around the forecasted weather was sunny with a potential high of 57 degrees. Where we were staying in Kirkland was conveniently located for a visit to Heybrook and it only took us 50 minutes to get to the trailhead off of HWY-2. Unfortunately, a lot of people had the same idea as us and the parking lot was completely full when we got there around 11AM. There was enough of a pull out across the highway to park our cars and no signs in sight prohibiting us. It’s a busy highway though so always be cautious and careful of oncoming traffic. We noticed a few people were double parked in the actual parking lot just waiting like sharks for someone else to leave. This is on par with most of what I’ve experienced from popular hikes in WA, there’s just so many more people in this area than Oregon and it seems to be a larger international tourist destination. This isn’t to say you can’t find uncrowded hikes there, they exist, but if you want to visit somewhere you’ve seen online close to Seattle you better be prepared to join the assembly lines or go extremely early (even then I’ve been to a popular trailhead and just barely snagged the last parking spot at 7AM). Oregon is much less competitive in my opinion. We spent the first steeper portions of the hike leap frogging with some other groups as we each stopped to catch our breath. I haven’t been on a trail since January 1st and my stamina reflected that significantly. This is my sign to start conditioning now for our summer season before I hurt myself later. Once we reached the ridgeline we had a little more breathing room from the other hikers until it bottle necked again right before the lookout. There were a good amount of people on and around the lookout when we got there. We waited awhile at the base before Garnet and Anjelica decided to hike up the tower while I opted to wait at the bottom. They said there weren’t too many people on the viewing platform, but squeezing past people on the stairs was difficult. We were surprised to see that the cab was completely boarded up for the season, I had thought it was rented year round. A quick search on Recreaton.gov confirmed it’s only rented from May 1st to October 31st. I’m sure I mentioned it in my other trip report, but I would feel like Rapunzel trapped in my tower if I ever stayed in this lookout during a weekend. It was still nice to get outside and absorb some much needed Vitamin D, but Garnet and I both agreed we probably won’t be back here again. The amount of people would not be as bad if everyone respected hiking etiquette and had more spatial awareness. But unfortunately, when you get a hike this busy you have people blasting their music and no yielding of any kind. And you kind of have to do the same in return to make any progress. On the hike down, Anjelica and I were separated from Garnet due to people not being able to wait to get by us going in both directions. We yielded for them, but no one yielded for us. Once back at the trailhead, the cars had multiplied in the pull out we had parked and was now full of cars as well. There were even some people walking along the highway from a more distant pull out. It starts to reach dangerous territory when you have this much crowding and is part of the reason places end up being permitted. I know it probably seems like I complain a lot about the amount of people, but it is meant to provide a realistic expectation. I am not out seeking nature to be apart of the crowds. If you still plan on visiting, I’d recommend it during a weekday. I saw significantly less people on an early Friday afternoon in August and it was much more enjoyable to me. My Strava app only calculated this hike at 2.07 Miles RT with 812′ of elevation, but I had forgotten to start it from the trailhead.

We have been in a deep hibernation this winter and are finally defrosting ourselves for the season. Although this is a repeat for me, this was a first for Garnet and is our first visited fire lookout for 2024. We will have to wait and see where else the Forest Service roads, weather, and fires take us this year. In the meantime, I will try to finish up our trip reports from Montana before our busy season begins. Happy Trails!