Oregon Lookouts

Johnson Rock L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Status.

Active; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

5 hours

Date visited.

July 13, 2023

Elevation.

5,714′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 1628; OR147

Trip Report.

Day 6/9: Lookout Road Trip 2023

We headed out from Tower Mountain (post) the same way we came in on NF-5226. One might argue we should have continued through the forest on NF-5226 to connect with HWY-244 since we were planning on going that way to get to Johnson Rock. But, I didn’t feel like taking any chances on another forest service road and we wanted to stop in Ukiah for amenities. We drove the remaining distance of NF-52 out of the forest until it turned into CR-1475. This county road will dump you into the heart of Ukiah. We decided to check the Ranger Station in Ukiah to see if they knew anything about the NF-51 road closure. It was technically out of their forest management, but we figured they might know anyway. Unfortunately, when we got there the station was only open to visitors by appointment. Strike one. Ukiah also didn’t have any cell service for us, so we weren’t able to call the La Grande station from here. Strike two. We moved on to check out the local business we thought would have gas, but it appeared to be closed indefinitely. Strike three. It appeared our luck had run out completely. The only amenities we were able to secure were refilling our water reservoirs in the local county park. Ukiah did have another convenience store that was open where we were able to buy some ice for our cooler too. In hindsight we probably should have asked the locals about their gas station, but we just assumed they no longer had any available. For future reference, I think they still offer gas at the Byrnes Oil off of Pine Street. It appeared people were stopped there filling their tanks when we drove through again the following day.

We sat along side the county park for a while debating what we should do. Do we risk it and drive to see if the road is open for ourselves? Or do we assume the worst and move on to our next destination? Garnet had the idea to start driving in the direction of Johnson Rock until we could find suitable service to call the La Grande Ranger Station. We decided to go that route and headed east out of Ukiah on HWY-244. We didn’t get service until we were on the Blue Mountain summit and pulled over to make the call. The ranger we spoke with was aware of the NF-51 closure but wasn’t sure when it would be re-opened. Also, just doing a basic search on the Forest Service road closure notices there was nothing mentioned about this road being closed (so any prior research wouldn’t have brought this to our attention). We asked the ranger about access to the Johnson Rock lookout. He wasn’t sure if that was part of the closure which meant he would have to get back to us, but he knew you could at least drive to the Spool Cart campground which is just before the turn. We gave him our contact information and we were back at square one. No one seemed to know much about this closure or at least the information we needed. We sat on the side of HWY-244 debating our options again. How long should we wait to see if he’ll call back? Do we drive to see if the road is open for ourselves? Or, once again, do we assume the worst and move on to our next destination?

We decided we were close enough that it made sense to check it out for ourselves. We also knew we should probably refuel soon and La Grande was our next closest option. We turned right onto NF-51 from HWY-244 towards the community of Starkey, this was marked as the Grande Ronde River Road prior to entering the forest again. There was no road closure sign posted at the junction, but we passed one that said “Road Closed 16 miles Ahead” once we got closer to the boundary. Based on our estimated mileage calculation prior this would put the road closure past the turn off we needed. We passed the Spool Cart campground with no issues and figured we’d make it to our turn after all. We reached NF-5115 off to the right only to be met with two more signs. Both said “Road Closed Ahead” and were partially blocking the road. Garnet and I debated what that meant. Did it mean the road behind the sign was closed ahead? Or was it referring to the other road closure on NF-51? At this point I was willing to throw in the towel on Johnson Rock, no one knew anything and it was unclear if we should be driving up this road. Garnet rationalized with me that if the road was actually closed there would be a road block farther up and we could turn around from there if needed. We continued up NF-5115 past the signs and hoped for the best. The NF-5115 road was in good shape and after a mile and a half we came to the junction with NF-5120. We turned left onto NF-5120 that would take us the remaining distance to the lookout, if road conditions were on our side. The conditions of the road deteriorated after leaving NF-5115. There were quite a few wide shallow pot holes that consumed the whole road and blind hills that would be a bad spot to meet oncoming traffic. Minor highlines and wash outs were also something to be aware of along this road. John was right about the road deteriorating significantly around 2 miles from the lookout. We made it to the NF-500 spur before deciding this was as far as we should probably drive. This was just beyond where the map said the road stopped being maintained. We set up camp in the flattest spot we could find and planned to hike to the fire lookout in the morning. We still weren’t 100% sure if we should be here, but we were never met with a road closure beyond the signs. We could hear and see the large helicopter doing work along the Grande Ronde. I had thought that I heard John mention they were practicing water drops on the phone with Mike. This lead to the irrational thought that they would accidentally drop a metric ton of water on us thinking no one would be in the area. I asked Garnet what would happen if they dropped that amount of water on someone and he said one would probably die from the shear force. A comforting thought.

The next morning, I woke up early to the sound of the helicopter again and had a hard time going back to sleep since it sounded closer to us than it was yesterday. We eventually got up and packed lunch for our hike up the road. We also packed up our camp so things would be ready to move when we got back to the car. As we started up the road we realized quickly where we had stopped was a good call. There were portions of the road that were fine, but the few significant rocky sections would be un-passable in our car without bottoming out. When Mike had talked to John the day before he mentioned there was a private contractor thinning the trees around the lookout that kept starting their chainsaws at 5am every morning. I didn’t recall hearing a car drive by that morning but it’s possible we didn’t hear it due to the helicopter starting around the same time. It was a pleasant walk from where we had parked but it was already getting hot for the day. The most notable things from our road walk were an occasional Pileated woodpecker flying across it, wild strawberries, and having something grunt at us from the bushes. We were pretty sure this was an elk but never saw it to confirm. As we got closer to the fire lookout, we could finally hear the symphony of chainsaws. I’m sure this wasn’t relaxing for John to hear all day, but they were making good work of thinning out the area. John was aware we’d be attempting to visit him sometime based on his call with Mike. We walked over to the viewpoint at the edge of the rock and wondered if we should try to make ourselves known. Before we could decide what to do, John called down from his catwalk and asked if we wanted to come up.

We climbed the tower and were not only greeted by John but his very large string bass. He also had a guitar and a mandolin there as well. I couldn’t believe he had hauled such a large string instrument all the way up there. He said he didn’t use the winch either because he didn’t trust it with such an item. He also confirmed that the helicopter we had seen along the Grande Ronde was moving logs to build salmon habitat. This made more sense than practicing water drops and I was happy to know my fears were unwarranted. We chatted for a bit about his experiences as a lookout and our trip around the area before heading back down to have lunch. While enjoying our lunch under the shade of a tree, an official Forest Service vehicle drove up. There were two rangers in the vehicle, and we wondered if they’d say anything to us about being there. It was still a grey area in our minds at this point, but less so now that we had made it to the lookout itself. They were only here to inspect the work of the private contractors and didn’t give us much more than a wave. I’m sure they were more confused than concerned about why we were there. We didn’t dilly dally much after we finished lunch and made the short hike back to the car. My Strava App recorded this road walk at 5.02 miles RT with 905’ of elevation gain.

The drive out felt much shorter than the day before. The signs that had previously blocked the road were now gone. Garnet’s phone also had a voicemail from the ranger we spoke with in La Grande confirming the road was open for recreation. It was good to know we had no reason to worry, but it felt a little too late at this point. We drove the remaining distance of HWY-244 to La Grande in search of fuel. Once we had a full tank, we backtracked to Ukiah again. We can now say we’ve driven the full length of HWY-244 twice. Our next destination was Madison Butte (post) on the Umatilla NF.

Lookout John.

This was John’s first season on Johnson Rock, a fittingly named lookout for him. He has worked as a fire lookout for 9 seasons on different towers such as Numa Ridge in Glacier NP, Tower Point in Oregon, and Aztec in Arizona to name a few. Prior to his seasonal work as a fire lookout he was a teacher. He uses his free time as a fire lookout to learn new skills and hobbies such as playing the string bass, guitar, and mandolin.

History.

There isn’t too much history behind the fire lookout on Johnson Rock. The first structure was built in 1938 as an L-4, but there is no information listed on if this was a ground cabin or tower. Given that the current 14’x14’ L-4 cab was built on an 82’ treated timber tower, I can only assume its predecessor also had a tall tower. The existing lookout was built in 1952 and is still actively staffed every season. Although the structure is still utilized the cab could use some work. The shutters on own side were blown off during the previous season and it would benefit from a new roof.

Not sure what happened to our picture together so here’s another picture of the lookout

Tower Mountain L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Umatilla National Forest

Status.

Active; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

5-1/2 hours

Date visited.

July 12, 2023

Elevation.

6,850′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 142; OR 20

Trip Report.

Day 5/9: Lookout Road Trip 2023

I got back to the car from our hike up to Mount Ireland (post) much later than my partner. He said he had been waiting for me for close to 40 minutes. I didn’t feel like I was going much slower than normal, but the back to back mileage must have been taking its toll. I felt it mostly on the downhill. We had to rethink our camping plans since the flat area near the trailhead was no longer viable. We decided to start heading towards Johnson Rock (post) and hoped to find a camp along the way. As we were backing out from the trailhead, my car’s heat shield caught on a small tree we had rolled over to get into the spot. This ended up bending it to hang lower than normal which caused us to scrape on the loose bits of gravel on our way out. It has never been the same since our Tower Point incident (post) and has been a reoccurring issue. It’s just a protective plate so it’s not a concern to my car’s functionality, but it is definitely an annoyance that I need to find a better solution for. This is just some of the joys that come with driving a low clearance vehicle to these kinds of places.

We backtracked on NF-73 towards Granite passing the junction to head into the Umatilla NF again. The NF-73 road skirts along the boundary of the Umatilla NF and Wallowa-Whitman NF until it makes a hard right turn to head towards Anthony Lakes. We stayed straight to continue onto NF-52 past the North Fork John Day campground. We briefly debated camping here since it was getting late, but ultimately decided to continue on to find a dispersed spot. A little ways past the campground we came to another junction where NF-52 continued left and NF-51 was to the right. We had planned to take NF-51 to connect to the Johnson Rock road, but we were met with a sign that said “Road Closed 3 Miles Ahead”. We optimistically headed on NF-51 anyway in hopes that it was an old road closure sign. Sure enough though, around the three mile mark, the road was completely closed. We cursed ourselves for not checking on road closures prior to the trip. We decided to pivot our plans to Tower Mountain instead and would check the road status once we had service again. This meant continuing farther on NF-52 until we reached the NF-5226 road. We eventually found a place to camp before the last bit of day light was gone, but we had to set everything up in the dark.

The next morning we headed up NF-5226 and kept our fingers crossed that we would make it all the way to the tower without any road walking. The research I found prior to our trip said that the NF-5226 road was best coming from the south and should be suitable for most. You have the option to access Tower Mountain and NF-5226 from HWY-244 in the north, but it is a much longer route. There is also access via a hiking trail, Tower Mountain Trail #3156, through the North Fork of the John Day wilderness that starts from the NF-52 road. The Wandering Yuncks have a trip report from June 2021 that describes the conditions of the trail in detail (post). We caught glimpses of the tower and where we were headed as we drove along NF-5226. It was a mostly decent road with only a few bumps, ruts, and narrow sections to mind. We parked at the junction where the road leads to the cabin and tower to walk the remaining distance.

We could see someone looking out of the tower from where we parked. Garnet had been in contact with the lookout attendant, Mike, prior to our visit via a group chat. He was aware we’d be coming within the next couple of days. We were a day early though given our change in plans. He gave us a wave as we started to walk towards the tower and asked if we were planning on coming up. We both said yes and started up the stairs. Half way up the tower I got a bit squeamish of the height and decided to take pictures around the base instead. Garnet ended up talking to Mike for well over an hour. I had been waiting at the base checking updates on my phone, but the service was slow and spotty. Eventually, I decided to suck it up and make the final push to the top of the tower. When I reached the cab, Mike said I looked like I was doing well for someone afraid of heights. It wasn’t so bad once I finally got up there, but it’s more a fear of falling than being high up. I didn’t ask as many questions as I normally would since I wasn’t sure what they had already talked about and I didn’t want to make him repeat himself. We asked if he knew about the NF-51 road closure, but he didn’t. He reached out to John, who is currently staffing Johnson Rock (post), but he wasn’t sure if the road was closed before or after the turn off from the north end. There was a wash out somewhere along the NF-51 road with some helicopter activity on the Grande Ronde. We were able to ask him about the road conditions and he said it depended on how adventurous we were. He said the worst of it was within the last 2 miles. He suggested calling the Ranger Station in La Grande to confirm access. While we were still visiting with Mike, a fire crew drove up and the foreman climbed the tower. It’s a pretty tight fit to have four adults in an Aermotor cab. She climbed to ask Mike about the trees that needed to be removed around the tower. They were going to replace the communication tower for the lookout and needed to clear a path for the equipment. We took that as our cue to head out and thanked Mike for his time.

Lookout Mike.

Mike Duffy has been a lookout on Tower Mountain for 14 non-consecutive seasons. He has also worked on Madison and Desolation Butte. He keeps in contact with Table Rock, Desolation Butte, and Indian Rock during his season. He is gregarious and will invite most people up for a chat in the tower if they are willing to make the climb. The area gets a lot of visitors due to the extensive ATV trails in the vicinity. His most asked question is about the wildlife he sees in the area. The most unique animal he has seen from the tower is a Lynx.

History.

The existing fire lookout on Tower Mountain is a 92′ Aermotor with 7’x7′ steel cab and was built in 1935. The living quarters were moved from the Lucky Strike lookout site sometime in the late 1940s. Prior to its move, the ground cabin was built on the Lucky Strike site in 1936. The surrounding area was burned by the 1996 Tower Complex that threatened the lookout, but was saved due to the efforts of our Wildland Fire Crews. Rex’s website also mentions there being a previous fire lookout on the summit in the 1920s. It states that this was a 60′ pole tower with 6’x6′ cab. This wasn’t mentioned anywhere else to confirm. He also states that Tower Mountain used to be Lookout Mountain until it was renamed in 1925. I wasn’t able to confirm this anywhere else either, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true. There is a Lookout Mountain in every forest, if not multiple.

I’m not sure what happened to the picture of us together, but for every picture of us there is a picture of Garnet waiting

Mount Ireland L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Status.

Active; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

7 hours

Date visited.

July 11, 2023

Elevation.

8,346′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 1338; OR 153

Trip Report.

Day 4/9: Lookout Road Trip 2023

Garnet had already visited Mount Ireland in September 2022 while heading to the FFLA Western Regional Conference (post). He had met the lookout attendant staffing the lookout at the time, Warren, and his wife. Garnet ended up talking to him for hours, helping around the lookout, and exchanging phone numbers. He talked very highly about Warren and his passion for Mount Ireland. We knew we wanted to go back sooner than later in hopes that I would get a chance to meet him as well. Unfortunately, his wife was having back issues and struggling to make the climb by the end of season. We were disappointed to find they wouldn’t be back this season after working it into our route. I believe she was having surgery to help with her back issues and I’m hoping she makes a good recovery. Hopefully, we will get a chance for our paths to cross again. Based on the information we had from the other lookouts in the area, the Forest Service hadn’t found a suitable replacement and there wouldn’t be anyone staffing it during our visit.

While packing up our camp, a truck driving by stopped to let us know the O’Rouick spring on NF-1010 had good water for drinking. They appeared to be locals, so we took their word for it and topped off our water reservoirs. Normally we wouldn’t trust drinking untreated water directly from a spring, but this one was piped and we had no issues with it afterwards. We headed out of the Umatilla NF via NF-10 towards Granite. You are essentially in the Wallowa-Whitman NF by the time you reach the small mining town. We took a quick spin through Granite while we were there. The main convenience store with gas was posted for sale, so I’m not sure if this would be a reliable source for fuel. We turned onto NF-73 to head towards Sumpter (a left turn if you’re coming out of Granite, but a right turn if you’re coming from NF-10). We followed this until we reached NF-7370 off to the left. It was on a blind corner from the direction we were coming and we initially drove past it. Garnet noticed it as we were already driving by, so it was a quick turn around. It’s a more obvious road coming from the other direction. There is actually a sign for the Mt Ireland L.O., but it is offset from the road and slightly being overtaken by brush. We followed the NF-7370 road to the junction with NF-100 that will take you the last bit to the trailhead. This is a drivable road for low-clearance vehicles, but it is narrow and steep with drop offs along some sections. We arrived at the trailhead, or what was left of it, just before noon. Garnet said that last year there was a big flat pull around area that used to offer a lot more parking. It appeared they had done some much needed thinning of the trees in the area, but used the previous trailhead for the slash piles. There’s only a few pull outs left for parking now. We picked one in the shade and started prepping for the hike. There was also a large white truck parked in the pull out closest to the start of the trail. We were surprised to see anyone else here since it’s already considered a pretty lonely trail and we were here on a Tuesday.

Trail heads to the left
Trail heads to the right
Trail heads to the left
Where we were headed
Campsite at the road crossing
Headed towards Mt. Ireland, trail heads left
Headed towards the trailhead, trail heads right

There is a surprising lack of online information for this trail. It’s not listed on AllTrails, Oregon Hikers (minus a trip report), or even the Forest Service’s website. This probably explains why it’s not heavily trafficked. The hike starts along the old decommissioned road that is marked with a sign post for Mt. Ireland L.O. Trail #1604. The road steeply climbs for a half of a mile to meet up with the trail. There are a few turns along the road to note, but all seemed to be well flagged or blocked off to corral you in the right direction. The first turn was off to the left where some flagging and a make shift arrow pointed the way. The second was shortly after to the right, the path to the left had some branches laid across it to signal not to head that direction. The final turn is off to the left after a particularly steep section of road where the official trail begins. It looks like the road might continue straight, but there were once again more branches laid across to signal you shouldn’t go that way. Once on the trail it starts to level out for the next mile. Make sure to look up occasionally for old insulators in the trees along this section, we were able to spot more than a few. You will get glimpses of where you are headed through the trees, which will either be encouraging or discouraging to your progress. While we were stopped to look at the fire lookout through the binoculars we heard a helicopter in the distance. We patiently watched as it landed on the helispot for Mt. Ireland and took off again. This could only mean one thing, they found someone to staff the lookout. Now it made sense why someone else was parked at the trailhead on a Tuesday. The trail eventually crosses an old road with a camp spot and starts to gain elevation again. Garnet remembered there being a trail sign here, but it looks like the sign or the tree have since been removed. A trip report from the Wandering Yuncks a year prior confirms this sign existed (post). We came to an exposed junction with an ATV trail around the 2.5 mile mark. We turned left to head up the last steep mile to the lookout. You will start to lose tree coverage here, so make sure to take advantage of the shade and bring lots of water. The whole while we were hiking we were able to watch the helicopter return 3 or 4 more times. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the summit in time to see their last run up close but it was still neat to watch from the trail below. There was an official U.S. Forest Service ATV parked on the trail where it became significantly more rocky. This allegedly used to be the old road to the lookout, but even an ATV wouldn’t be able to make it all the way now. The last pitch of trail before you reach the summit is steep, dusty, and loose for footings. Along this section we were passed by a group of four fire crew members heading back to the ATV. They had been there to help open up the fire lookout for the season and get the new lookout situated, it was his first day! It looks like we had just missed all the commotion, most likely for the better though since we’d probably be in their way.

Photo taken by Garnet

As I reached the saddle below the fire lookout, I looked up to see someone on the catwalk looking down at us. I waved up to them to say hello to which they said “you’re doing better than I did”. I laughed and replied “I’m not so sure about that” as I wheezed my way closer to the lookout. He ended up inviting us on the catwalk if we were interested. We gladly joined him and talked for a while about fire lookouts, our trip, and the surrounding area. He joked about how he couldn’t wait to get up here for the peace and quiet only to have his first visitors come mere minutes after the fire crews had left. He was very hospitable as he offered his stools for us to sit on in the shade and even refilled our empty water bottles before we left. We mentioned how we could see the helicopter making deliveries on our way up and he said that they only get one for the season so he had to make it count. Anything else that he might want throughout his season he would have to be pack up himself. This is also typically a good spot to see mountain goats, there is even a salt lick for them provided by the Forest Service, but they were no where to be seen after all the noise. We thanked him for his time and wished him a good (and more importantly quiet) first season!

Lookout Darren.

This was not only Darren’s first day on the job, but also his first season as a fire lookout ever. He said it had been a bucket list item for him ever since he visited a family member that used to staff one. He has two dogs that he plans to accompany him, but they weren’t there yet since he was planning to hike out the next day. His official season didn’t start until that following Monday. He used to be a state trooper for the Oregon State Police and has also done work for ODOT auditing trucking companies. He grew up in Baker City and currently resides there now, but has lived in different parts of Oregon as well during his time working for the state.

History.

A cabin with open platform on the roof was constructed on a stacked rock foundation in 1916. It was first staffed by Orlin L. Ireland, the son of Henry Ireland who was the mountains namesake. At the time, the mountain was named Bald Mountain. The US Geographic board approved the name change to Ireland Mountain in 1917. This was to commemorate the late Henry Ireland who was the supervisor of the Whitman NF for a decade. A cupola was added in 1928 to enclose the fire finder. In 1957, the cupola and previous foundation were destroyed by blasting it off the mountain to prep for the new lookout. It was replaced with a 13×13 CL-100 all steel live-in cab that still stands today. It is actively staffed every season.

More Information.

Wandering Yuncks

Oregon Hikers

Desolation Butte L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Umatilla National Forest

Status.

Active; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

7 hours

Date visited.

July 10, 2023

Elevation.

7,028′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 1610; OR 137

Trip Report.

Day 3/9: Lookout Road Trip 2023

There is no quick way to get to Desolation Butte, but I think our route this trip might have been the worst of them all. We’ve been fairly close to Desolation Butte two separate times. The first was the closest on an extended weekend backpacking trip to the North Fork of the John Day wilderness in September 2019. We came in from Dale and drove to the Lost Horse trailhead off of NF-800 which is only about 4 square miles away on the map from the fire lookout. I can only vouch for the roads we drove on, but NF-1010 and NF-10 were drivable to at least the trailhead in the Civic. The NF-55 and NF-5505 were good up until it got closer to the junction with NF-1010. The second time was for a week long backpack through the main part of the North Fork of the John Day wilderness in June 2021. We were at the main trailhead that starts in the North Fork John Day campground. This would have required an extra day to drive down NF-73 to NF-10 from Granite to get to the lookout. The roads getting to the campground are paved and were in good condition. This time we were attempting to connect through the forest via NF-45 from Indian Rock (post). We were already limited on time due to our extended conversation with the lookout that morning. We ended up eating even more of our time when I thought I had lost one of my Nalgene bottles. This resulted in us driving back up to the base of Indian Rock (post) to search for it after packing up camp. We didn’t find it there and I accepted it as a loss. The NF-45 road past the junction with NF-537 is not marked as a good road on the map. We had asked Karen at Indian Rock (post) about the conditions, but she said she hadn’t been that way in years. She knew it was at least passable since people would visit her from Olive Lake, but all have had trucks or higher clearance. We decided to test our luck anyway. It’s considered a main connection road from the Malheur NF to the Umatilla NF, how bad could it really be?

The next 8.2 miles of road were some of the worst we’ve ever driven in the Civic. We had thought the Dixie Butte (post) road was bad, but this was definitely worse. It immediately deteriorate after passing the NF-537 road and we briefly debated turning around to head in through Sumpter instead. The only reason we continued on was because I left the decision up to my partner who was currently driving the car. He was head strong and didn’t want to miss out on seeing Desolation Butte again. Unfortunately, this decision was made before we got to the worst parts of the road. I whined multiple times for us to turn around, but eventually we reached a point where we were so far into it that it made more sense to continue through. There were large rocks embedded in the road that required skillful maneuvering in a low clearance vehicle and I had to get out multiple times to move the smaller of large rocks. We eventually reached the boundary where the two forests meet. There is a trailhead here that leads off in both directions. Now that we were on the Umatilla NF the road improved significantly. It still wasn’t a great road as it was made up from larger rock gravel and had some potholes along the way. But, we felt much more relaxed after the boulder field we had experienced on the Malheur NF side. After what felt like an eternity we reached NF-10 which looked like a gravel highway in comparison. We turned right to head towards the Desolation Guard station. The NF-1010 road is immediately after the guard station off to the left. This was a good road up until the large 5-way intersection. The NF-1010 road makes a hard left turn here. We were stopped shortly after that by a rocky section that crossed the entire road. After the trauma from the NF-45 road, we decided to walk the remaining distance to the lookout. It was already getting late in the day so we decided to set up camp and make dinner before heading out. While we were setting up camp I found my missing Nalgene in the smaller cooler we had brought in addition to our larger cooler. I guess when Garnet was collecting our water bottles to refill them for the day a car drove by and he placed it in the cooler to look busy. He immediately forgot about it and we had a good laugh.

NF-1010 left, NF-300 right

I started my hike up the road while Garnet cleaned up the dishes from dinner. He’s a much faster hiker than I am and I figured he’d catch up easily. After the one rocky patch, the road improved which was frustrating. We had already committed to the road walk though and there were a few other rocky patches along the way that would be troublesome in a low clearance vehicle. That’s what I am telling myself at least. The road is mostly treed in on each side which doesn’t offer much for notable landmarks. There is a trailhead within the first 1/2 mile from the junction for the Lake Creek Trail. I stayed on NF-1010 for around 2.5 miles until I reached the junction with NF-300. The NF-300 road was also in decent shape. It was roughly another 1.5 miles along NF-300 to the summit. I was surprised I made it to the summit before Garnet caught up. Every time I turned around to see if he was coming he was no where to be found. My irrational thoughts started to wonder if he accidentally turned onto one of the unmarked spurs off of NF-1010. I was able to talk my anxiety down since I know he’s much more competent than that. He showed up a little while later after I had already finished taking pictures. The sun was already starting to set and I wanted to minimize as much road walking in the dark as possible. I headed off again before Garnet thinking he’d be shortly behind me. It quickly started to get dark and I had already pulled out my head lamp before reaching the end of NF-300. There’s an interesting fork in the NF-300 road which I think is just a continuation of NF-300 from the other direction if you came in via NF-1010 from Dale. I’m not completely sure though.

Something important to note is that I am afraid of the dark or more specifically what I can’t see in the dark. I kept scanning the edges of the road with my head lamp expecting something to be there. Once again, every time I turned around to see if Garnet was coming he was no where to be found. This only put me on edge even more. I made it most of the way without anything notable happening and no Garnet in sight. That was until I was within the last mile of the road walk. I turned around again to see if I could see his headlamp, but my headlamp passed over a shiny pair of eyes in the brush. I stopped in my tracks and stared back at it. I couldn’t tell what it was besides that it was a larger animal. Unsure of what to do I clapped my trekking poles together to see what it would do. Sure enough it started bouncing away, it was just a deer. I started walking faster and occasionally clapping my poles together to alert anything else of my presence. I could finally see the 5-way junction and turned around to see Garnet’s head lamp in the distance. I guess he was a bit spooked too. He said when he was on the tower he had felt someone tap his shoulder but no one was there. The road walk ended up being 8.3 miles RT with 1,103′ of elevation gain.

Desolation Butte is an actively staffed fire lookout but we knew they wouldn’t be there during our visit. Otherwise we would’ve had to rethink our timing. We had tried to connect with Bob LaFrance while we were in the area, but he seemed to be bouncing around and elusive. It was unclear if he was still working as a lookout relief. Based on what Karen on Indian Rock (post) told us no one really knew what he was officially doing this season. He did help us by starting a group chat with the lookout attendants staffing Tower Mountain (post) and Desolation Butte though. This is how we became aware it would be vacant on the day we were visiting.

NF-300 junction with NF-300?

History.

In 1918, the East Oregonian mentions a big steel lookout tower receiving storm damage on Desolation Butte. I could only find mention of this on Ron Kemnow’s site, but there must have been some sort of steel tower added during the 1910s. It was replaced in 1923 by a 50′ steel Aermotor tower with 7×7 cab. There was also a wood frame cabin for the living quarters. The existing tower was constructed in 1961 as a 67′ treated timber tower with R-6 flat roof cab. It was threatened in 1996 by the Bull Complex Fire but survived along with the Olive Lake Campground thanks to the hard work of our Wildland fire fighters. It is still actively staffed every season.

Indian Rock L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Malheur National Forest

Status.

Active; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

7 hours

Date visited.

July 10, 2023

Elevation.

7,353′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 1625; OR 146

Trip Report.

Day 3/9: Lookout Road Trip 2023

We continued our drive along HWY-26 heading east until we reached the Austin Junction with HWY-7. We turned left onto HWY-7 for a short time before making another left turn onto CR-20, Middle Fork Road. If you follow the signs for Bates State Park, you’ll head in the right direction. We briefly stopped at the campground to refill our water reservoirs and rinse off some of our sweat from the hike up to Dixie Butte (post). We continued on CR-20 until we passed the rentable Sunshine Guard station. The turn for NF-45 is only a little ways after this off to the right. There is a sign here that noted Indian Rock L.O. at 15 miles away. The rain had been heavy up until we made our turn onto NF-45. Once we started gaining elevation it cleared off to a nice view. The NF-45 road is in great condition but narrow. You wouldn’t want to meet someone heading down in some of the sections. There are two more signs for Indian Rock along the NF-45 road at the junctions with NF-4560 and NF-4550. Both note the lookout at 8 miles away. I’m not sure which one is the most accurate though since we weren’t tracking the mileage on the odometer. As you get closer to the lookout you will start to see signs of the 2022 Crockets Knob Fire. We stayed on NF-45 all the way to the junction with NF-537 off to the right. There is a sign for Indian Rock L.O. at this junction as well that states there’s only 2 more miles to go. We set up camp for the night instead of continuing all the way to the lookout, but it would be our first stop in the morning.

The NF-537 road is also in good condition with 6 water bars to bump over. There was only one section that had some rutting due to drivers using it in wet conditions. There’s a campground just below the lookout, Head O’ Boulder campground, that offers 3 or so camp spots with picnic tables, fire rings, and a vault toilet. There is also a trailhead here that branches into a few different trails that lead into the Vinegar Hill-Indian Rock Scenic Area. Fun fact: we had attempted to visit Indian Rock once before during a camping trip to the Vinegar Hill area in August 2020. I wasn’t convinced that we would make it up the NF-45 road and we attempted to access it via one of the trails instead. Looking at the map now, I’m not even sure which trailhead we were trying to reach. We somehow ended up on the wrong road just below the one we needed and tried to cross country hike to the trailhead. It was very close on the map, but the going was steep and in between was a thicket of lodgepole. Needless to say we didn’t even make it to the trailhead. We stopped at the campground to have breakfast bars and watch the birds since we were still a bit early for a reasonable visiting hour. This is an actively staffed lookout and should only be visited during working hours if possible. We waited until just before 9AM to drive the remaining distance up NF-537 to the base of the trail. It’s only a 0.2 mile hike with 128′ of elevation gain to the lookout according to Strava. As we were prepping for the short hike up, we could hear the lookout attendant yelling for their dog. Before we knew it we were greeted by a very large white, black and grey speckled dog. He was excited to see us and very friendly. He led us up the trail only stopping a few times to block the way for us to pet him. Occasionally, he grabbed my hand with his mouth as if to hold hands and direct me. All the while his owner was calling for him to return. He didn’t pay her any mind until we got closer and she started heading down the trail to grab him. She wasn’t very happy with her dog. She mentioned she wasn’t even on the clock yet and still trying to have breakfast when he took off down the trail. We felt terrible that we arrived too early even though she said we were fine.

We decided to give her some space to finish breakfast and hiked the rocky ridge out to an overlook point. We spent time picking out surrounding peaks and different fire lookouts we could see from the area. Eventually, we headed back towards the lookout to take some more pictures before heading on. The lookout attendant came out to greet us this time and wanted a redo from our previous interaction. She apologized for possibly coming off rude earlier and for her dog. We apologized for coming too early as well. Everyone agreed no apologies were needed though. We talked for a long time, almost 3 hours, with the lookout about her history in fire lookouts, the different places she’s lived, her rescue animals, and stories of the area. If you’re lucky, you might even get a chance to see the resident mountain goats that frequent the area. They weren’t there during our visit, but she pointed out the damage they had done to her catwalk. She talked about the 2022 Crockets Knob Fire and how close it came to her tower last year. I was surprised to learn she was able to come back to finish off her season in September after it had been mostly contained. This fire was also the reason the road had been in such good condition. They already had all the equipment onsite for the fire and decided to do the much needed road maintenance while they had the time. I guess prior to this it was a long rocky road that took an hour and a half to drive even in a truck. It’s a good thing we didn’t attempt to drive it in 2020. She also talked about how lookouts will stay on the same fire lookout when they feel they have found their mountain. Indian Rock was her mountain and she believed Stacy on Dixie Butte (post) had also found her mountain there. She reconfirmed that no one was staffing Mt. Ireland (post) for the season yet, but they hoped a previous long term staffer might return in the future. We eventually had to find a break in the conversation since we still needed to pack up our camp and head on to Desolation Butte (post). It was already past noon and we needed to hurry if we wanted to stay on schedule. We thanked her for her time and headed on to our next destination.

Lookout Karen.

Karen has been the lookout attendant on Indian Rock for the last 7 seasons. She is accompanied by her three rescue dogs Yurik, Atlas, and Max. She’s originally from Florida but has lived in many different places such as California, Wyoming, and Oregon. The first lookout she staffed was Indian Mountain which she only staffed for 1 season. She also staffed another lookout in the black hills of Wyoming for 11 seasons. If I remember correctly, this was the Cement Ridge lookout.

History.

The first structure built on Indian Rock was a D-6 cupola style cabin in 1929. This stood for many years until it was replaced in 1957 by the existing lookout. The existing lookout is considered a wooden R-6 flattop ground cab and still stands today. It is actively staffed every season. The lookout was threatened by the Crockets Knob Fire in August 2022 and had to be wrapped in heat resistant fabric. It survived with minimal damage.

Prairie City Fire Finder

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Grant County, OR

Status.

Emergency; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

6 hours

Date visited.

July 9, 2023

Elevation.

3,660′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 1637; OR 155

Trip Report.

Day 2/9: Lookout Road Trip 2023

We packed up our camp and headed out of the Starr Campground before 9AM. Our next stop was an easy one. We headed North on HWY-395 towards Canyon City and John Day. We had plenty of gas in the tank, but decided to refuel and fill our Jerry Can in Canyon City. We didn’t want to make the same mistake from our Memorial weekend trip (post). Over the next few days we would be driving through the forest without any access to services. This made our water and gas refills a bit trickier than normal. Once in John Day, we turned right to head farther east on HWY-26 to Prairie City. There are no signs in town that will point you in the right direction of such fire finder, but it’s on the same route you’d take to get to the Strawberry Lake Campground. From Prairie City, we turned right on S Main Street and then left on SW Bridge Street. There is an almost immediate right turn onto to S Bridget Street after this. We followed this road out of town until it turned into CR-60 and Strawberry Road. You will see the box on the right hand side of the road with a small pull out for one or two vehicles. This is an easy pitstop to see some fire finding history if you are ever in the area.

History.

A stand alone Osborne fire finder was built just a mile outside of Prairie City to be used for fire detection in the early 1930s. It is secured in a locked box and used only in emergencies during heavy lightning activity. The box used to be wooden but was replaced sometime between 2016-2018 with a more robust metal box. It has a direct view of the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness with some surrounding views of the Malhuer NF.

Dixie Butte L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Malheur National Forest

Status.

Active; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

6 hours

Date visited.

July 9, 2023

Elevation.

7,592′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 657; OR 108

Trip Report.

Day 2/9: Lookout Road Trip 2023

Our next stop for the day, after visiting the easy to find Prairie City Fire Finder (post), was more complicated. The road to Dixie Butte, no matter which way you slice it, is described as a no good downright terrible road. We knew we would be road walking part of this road, but we had hoped to make it some distance up before having to get out and hike. It’s about 5.3 miles from the highway to the summit according to a peakbagger report. We had met some other lookout enthusiasts last year while searching for the Eightmile crows nest (post) in the Mount Hood NF. One of them had been the former lookout on Dixie Butte for many seasons and this lookout is where they actually met. They had described the road as bad even back then, but were able to get a Honda Civic up there with a little motivation. There are other reports on Peakbagger that note people in sedans and low clearance vans making the harrowing drive up. I like to think we are pretty adventurous drivers, but we didn’t even make it a mile up the road before deciding it was not worth it. We had planned for Dixie being a whole day affair, but this complicated things.

From Prairie City, we drove 10 more miles east on HWY-26 until we reached the signed turn for Dixie Butte. This road is one of the first turns off to the left after entering the forest boundary. We kept right at the first fork and left at the second to stay on NF-2610 road. There were no visible road signs to indicate these were the correct turns. There is a primitive looking ski area and cabin you will have to pass through though. The first mile of road is rocky and bumpy. We stopped just shy of a mile up the road when we were met with a section covered in large embedded rocks. It covered the whole road in this section that would have made it tricky to avoid scraping our low clearance car. I don’t doubt people have done it though. Normally we can find a way to wiggle around sections like this, but we figured if it was already this bad it wasn’t going to get any better. We parked on a closed road in the shade and mentally prepared for a long road walk. We started our hike to Dixie around 11AM and didn’t make it to the summit until 2PM. The road improved past the rocky section for a mile and a half, but deteriorated again when it narrowed. Parts of this road are starting to wash out and could benefit from some water bars. Let’s just say that the bad parts of the road are really bad and the better sections are just ok. The last section of road where you start to leave the tree line is not for the faint of heart. We stopped to have lunch in the shade near a nice meadow area before hand. It was already really hot and we needed the energy to finish the final stretch along the exposed portion of road.

I’m sure the lookout attendant saw us coming well before we reached the summit. I thought about that every time I needed to stop and take another break where I could see the lookout. We had hoped it would be the same attendant from last year. When we were at the FFLA conference (post) in Enterprise the year prior, they had been apart of the group chat that sparked our meeting with Bob LaFrance after Garnet’s visit to Mt. Ireland (post). They had said to send us their way which led us to believe they were friendly. Though it’s not often that you meet an unfriendly lookout attendant. She didn’t immediately come out to greet us, so we tried to take pictures without being a nuisance. The one down fall to being a lookout on Dixie is you’re right on the ground which leaves no room for privacy. There’s also no gate to stop people from driving up at any hour of the day or night. But, the road conditions at least deter a few people. We happened to glance over at each other at the same time to which I gave her a wave. She waved back and popped out to say hi while warning us that there might be some lightning here soon. This area had a 20% chance of thunderstorms forecasted as well, but none of the immediate clouds looked like thunderheads yet. There had been some lightning the day before, so she was busy watching for any residual smoke. We did learn that her name is Stacy and she is from Washington. Washington has less standing fire lookouts than Oregon and staffs even fewer. We were also greeted by her cute dog, Nook, who was trying to coax us into throwing a stick he had. She mentioned that Antelope Mountain (post) and Mt Ireland (post) were both not staffed yet for the season. This was either due to staffing issues or their season not starting yet. We also talked about how we walked the majority of the road and she thanked us for not trying to drive it. She keeps an air compressor with her and has to help people often with flat tires that attempt the drive. She seemed distracted and we didn’t get to talk to her for very long.

We took a few more pictures before parting ways and starting our hot slog back to the car. From where we parked, my Strava app tracked that it was 4.63 miles (9.26 miles RT) of road walking and 1,984′ of elevation gain. We still needed to find a camp for the night since our original option didn’t pan out. We’ve found our best option when on these trips is to continue on our route towards the next destination until we are able to find something viable. They’re not always the prettiest camp spots, but there is always something. Thunder was rumbling in the distance by the time we got back to the car and we rejoiced as it started to rain.

History.

Dixie Butte was established as a fire detection site as early as 1911 when a lookout was stationed on the summit. They were connected by telephone line, but it is unclear if there were any permanent structures during this time. In 1921, a D-6 cupola lookout house was built. A wood frame garage was later added in 1934. The lookout house was replaced in 1935 by an 14’x14′ L-4 ground cab. The Malheur National Forest Archive references it as an Aladdin plan 14’x14′ lookout house. In the fall of 1967, the lookout structure was damaged by a windstorm that caused the roof to be lifted from the wall and the wall to be pushed out of place. The following year, in 1968, they were able to approve construction on a new lookout as long as they followed the standard plans for the region at that time. This was a 15’x15′ R-6 flattop ground house style lookout that still stands today. It is still actively staffed every season.

Fall Mountain L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Malheur National Forest

Status.

Rental program; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

6 hours

Date visited.

July 8, 2023

Elevation.

5,946′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 115; OR 15

Trip Report.

Day 1/9: Lookout Road Trip 2023

We turned right on NF-21 from the Aldrich Mountain (post) road to continue through the forest to Fall Mountain. This lookout is a rental and we figured we would see people while visiting. The NF-21 road is paved and follows along Murder’s Creek for most of the way. It turned to gravel with washboard once we left the forest boundary and it became a county road. We came out to a junction with CR-63 at the community of Logdell and turned left. We were only on this road for a short while before taking another left onto Geary Creek Road. This is the back way to Fall Mountain since most people come from John Day and HWY-395. The Geary Creek Road forked once we entered the forest again to NF-333 and NF-4920. The NF-333 road is deceiving and looks like the main road, but we turned left to continue onto NF-4920. The NF-4920 road will take you all the way to the NF-067 spur and continues down to HWY-395 where most people access it. It was a decent road in both directions albeit a bit less used from the way we came.

I had it in my mind for some reason that the spur road to the lookout was in bad condition and we decided to park at the junction to walk the remaining distance. It always feels like a weird move to drive up to a rental anyway. The road is just shy of one mile and my Stava app calculated it at 0.93 miles with 396′ of elevation gain. We realized quickly the road was definitely drivable to the Civic with only a few sections that might give the lower clearance some trouble. The walk was worth it though since we saw two Pileated Woodpeckers that we wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. This would be a theme for the trip, we’d continue to see a ton more woodpeckers and do a ton more road walking.

Once at the fire lookout we were surprised to see no vehicle onsite. The renters must have cancelled, gotten lost, or were driving from a very far distance. The sun was already starting to set and it was a Saturday after all. When I had checked the reservations prior to our trip it had been completely reserved. We’ve been lucky this year, so far, to visit a few rentable lookouts without the renters. It was odd that no one was here, but we were happy to not have to worry about intruding on anyone’s space. It gave us time to enjoy the sunset before heading back to the car. We weren’t sure where we were going to camp for the night and hadn’t seen any dispersed spots along this road yet. We headed down via NF-4920 towards HWY-395. We opted to camp at the Starr Campground where HWY-395 and NF-4920 meet. There were only a couple other campers here on a weekend and we had our pick of the spots. We did pass one dispersed spot back along the road but it sounded easier to utilize the picnic tables at the campground after a long day of driving.

History.

The lookout on Fall Mountain was constructed in 1933 and still stands today. I found some conflicting information online about the style of the tower and found it hard to determine which is the most accurate. Ron Kemnow’s site lists that it was originally built as an Aladdin Jr. 14’x14′ cab on a native round timber tower. It was accompanied by an Aladdin style 16’x18′ wood framed garage. A structural inspection done in 1968 noted the tower height at 30′ and that the legs had been replaced around 1954. Other sites note the cab as a 14’x14′ L-4 style. The NHLR and Forest Service note the tower height at 18′ but Rex’s site mentions that it is a 15′ pole tower. It is currently apart of the rental program, but it is unclear when it was added.

Aldrich Mountain L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

NOTICE: As of September 8, 2023 this area is currently closed due to the active Rail Ridge fire.

Location.

Malheur National Forest

Status.

Active; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

6 hours

Date visited.

July 8, 2023

Elevation.

6,988′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 453; OR 56

Trip Report.

Day 1/9: Lookout Road Trip 2023

If you were around here during this time last year, reading this blog for some reason, you might remember we had taken a road trip to visit a bunch of fire lookouts in the southern part of Oregon. If not, you can find our route and associated posts here. We had managed to visit 18 fire lookouts over the course of 10 days. We planned to take a similar trip this year albeit a bit lacking in comparison. Our goal for this time around would be to visit 12 fire lookouts over 9 days in the eastern central portions of Oregon. We would be covering what one might call big country and although things might look close on a map they would not be as the car drives. We tried to give ourselves ample time for any mishaps or delays, but had hope that things would go as smooth as last time.

We had our sights set on Aldrich Mountain and Fall Mountain (post) in the Malheur NF for our first day. We headed out of Portland around 9AM via HWY-26 and followed this all the way to Dayville. We only briefly made a pit stop in Prineville to refuel our car and stomachs. From HWY-26, we made a right turn onto Fields Creek Road to head into the forest. This road eventually turns into NF-21 once you’ve crossed the boundary. We had been to this area once before on our first dispersed camping trip together in May 2020. We have since driven past this turn off many other times, but haven’t made the turn onto this road since that initial trip. During that trip, we visited a bunch of old mining areas and Flagtail Mountain (post). Believe it or not, this was prior to our fire lookout centered adventures. We followed paved NF-21 until it came to a junction with NF-2150 off to the right. This turn used to be marked with a sign for the Cedar Grove Botanical Area, but it appears to have since been removed. It’s roughly 15 miles along NF-2150 to Aldrich Mountain. There was a sign for Aldrich Mountain L.O. at the junction with the Cedar Grove Trail #203A. The NF-2150 road is a good gravel road all the way to the main parking area below the final pitch to the lookout. There is a sign here that states the road beyond is closed to all motorized vehicles, but there is no gate. We walked the remaining distance of the road, which my Strava app calculated at 0.2 miles.

We knew this fire lookout would be staffed during our visit and had hoped to meet the lookout attendant while there. Unfortunately, they seemed to be hunkered down in the second story of the tower. We figured this was probably due to the thunderstorm activity in the forecast. There had been a 20% chance of thunderstorms for the surrounding areas over the next two days, which probably should have been a warning for us to stay away from the high points. We decided to take a chance on visiting them regardless due to our inflexibility of route and timing. Don’t worry we’re not completely brain dead, we’d assess our risk based on each area during our time of visit. There was definitely storm clouds off in the distance, but none were close enough at the time to be of concern to us. There is also a 100′ communication tower on the summit that was more likely to get hit than us. We still didn’t want to waste any time lingering near a storm and quickly headed back to the car after taking in the view and some pictures. I later found out from the lookout attendant on Madison Butte (post) that Aldrich was staffed by someone named Danielle as well. She was on Tamarack Mountain (post) the year prior. It’s too bad we didn’t get a chance to meet while we were there, but maybe our paths will cross in the future. If she ever happens to stumble across this blog, Hi Danielle!

We decided to make a stop to check out the Cedar Grove Trail before heading on to Fall Mountain. We figured we wouldn’t be back to this area anytime soon and should see it while we were here (or maybe I should say while it’s still here). This trail is unique because it takes you to an isolated grove of Alaskan yellow cedar trees. The trail heads down from the road and takes you to a few interpretive signs about the common vegetation in the area before you reach the grove. Unfortunately, it seemed like a lot of the cedar trees were dead or dying. There were still a few of them alive though. We weren’t sure how far the trail continued since it’s designated as a National Recreation Trail and turned around when it started heading up a slope. Once we headed back the way we came we saw where the trail connected and looped around. The total mileage is slightly off due to this backtracking, but My Strava app calculated this hike at 1.89 miles with 395′ of elevation gain.

History.

The first fire lookout built on Aldrich Mountain was an L-4 hip-roofed ground cab in 1934. Four years later a garage and storage building were added to the summit. It was replaced in 1959 by a standard 14’x14′ 3-story ODF cab. This lookout was short lived as it was burned down by vandals later that same year. In 1960, an exact replica was built and still stands today. It is actively staffed every summer. Rex’s site mentions that it is currently managed by the Ochoco National Forest. The site has changed management over the years due to its prime location overlooking BLM, state, private, and national forest land that benefits all.

Pechuck L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Bureau of Land Management – NW OR District

Status.

Maintained by volunteers; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

2 hours

Date visited.

July 4, 2023

Elevation.

4,338′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 2; OR 2

2020 has been a very long and difficult fire season for a lot of people across western Oregon, especially those who live in communities affected by fire and smoke. We encourage everyone who has sustained damage or losses from these fires to take full advantage of programs offered by FEMA and other relief organizations

We realize some of your favorite and most beloved places may have been impacted by fire. As land managers tasked with caring for the land, we’re also hurting and sad as we learn the extent of the damage to our favorite place.

We are anxious to survey the damage and to inventory repair work. Many places, such as the Opal Creek area, are no yet accessible even for us, due to very serious safety concerns. These hazards include burned out trees with weakened roots, ash pits, falling rocks and erosion. Likely, these hazards will increase as the wet fall and winter weather arrives. Some of these areas may be closed for a long time. It might even seem excessive.

We simply don’t know how long it will take us to mitigate hazards allowing us to work safely. These closures are in place to protect the life and safety of visitors and also rescue crews and firefighters. We ask you to please respect our closures. Thank you for your patience and resilience as we collectively try to recover from these devastating fires.

There will be many months and even years of healing for those of us who manage the land, communities and for the forest itself which provides so much for all of us.

-Willamette National Forest Supervisor, October 6th 2020

Trip Report.

In 2020, the Beachie Creek Fire decimated around 193,556 acres in Oregon. It burned 486 homes and 36 non-residential buildings which greatly impacted the communities of Detroit, Gates, Mill City, and Mehama. This doesn’t include the damage done by the Riverside (138,054 acres) or Lionshead (204,469 acres) Fires that burned around those areas during the same time. Pechuck L.O. managed to escape any damage due to the efforts of our Wildland Fire Crews, but has been closed to the public the last few years. The area is still listed as closed when doing a basic search on the BLM website and AllTrails app despite recent trip reports stating it has been re-opened. With that information in mind, we decided to add it to our list to visit as soon as possible.

Garnet and I both had the day off on Tuesday in observance of the fourth of July holiday. Portland was predicting somewhere in the 90s for the high of the day. We decided this would be the perfect time to escape the heat in the mountains and finally check off Pechuck for a day hike. We invited Garnet’s mom to join us for the day and set off from SE Portland around 9:30AM. We briefly popped on I-205 to connect to HWY-213. We stayed on this highway through Mulino and Liberal, but turned left once we reached the junction with HWY-211 to head towards Molalla. From Molalla, we had planned to turn right onto Mathias Road. We didn’t account for the Main Street through downtown being closed off for a fourth of July parade. There were detour signs that took us around and dropped us on Mathias Road farther down than we needed. We back tracked to connect with S Feyrer Park Road. This road was unmarked and we initially missed the turn. It is more obvious coming from the other direction since Mathias Road curves into S Feyrer Park Road. We followed this until we passed Feyrer Park and crossed the bridge over the Molalla River to a T-junction. We turned right onto S Dickey Prairie Road and stayed on this road until we crossed another bridge over the North Fork of the Molalla River. Shortly after crossing the bridge you will want to take the first right onto another bridge to cross the Molalla River again. Most of these junctions are unmarked but it heads towards the Molalla River Recreation Area and then curves left to become S Molalla River Road. We stayed on this road for 13.6 miles. The road is paved the majority of the way. We crossed the Molalla River once again just shy of the 13 mile marker and the road became good gravel after that. Once we passed the 13-1/2 mile marker we turned left onto the first road heading up. This is allegedly the Upper Molalla River Road but is once again unsigned. Once you start heading up and away from the river you will come to a fork in the road. The left road will take you to the Table Rock Trailhead, but we stayed right to turn onto Rooster Rock Road. There was another fork after that where we stayed left to continue on Rooster Rock Road. Don’t expect to see any signage to indicate you’re on the correct road. Eventually, Rooster Rock Road will dead end at the Rooster Rock Trailhead. We arrived around 11:30AM and had the trailhead to ourselves. The roads getting here were mostly good gravel with only a few easy to navigate pot holes and rocky sections along the Rooster Rock Road.

Start of the trail
Old decommissioned road

There are a few different routes you can take to get to Pechuck L.O., but we opted for the most common and shortest of options. I would classify Pechuck as a fairly popular hike on social media, so we were a bit surprised to see no one else here on a holiday. We passed plenty of people parked along the Molalla River on our way into the area too. We speculated that the online closure notice must have deterred a lot of people. We have also noticed people tend to celebrate the fourth in town or on the water. After setting up the car in the shade and packing our bags full of lunch, we headed up the trail directly across the road from the sign board. There is a more visible trail that continues on the decommissioned portion of the road, but this is not the route you want. The Rooster Rock trail climbs 1.1 miles up the ridge to meet up with the High Ridge trail. It varied between quick switch backs, steep uphill, and short flat sections to offer some reprieve from the elevation gain. There are no trail signs at the junction with the High Ridge trail, minus an R and arrow carved into a tree. The R points to the left which would take you to Rooster Rock, we turned right to head towards Pechuck. From the junction, it is 1.6 miles to the lookout. We followed a rolling ridge line that was my favorite portion of trail. Once we started to see signs of the burn from the Beachie Creek Fire the trail started to lose elevation. It flattened out before we reached a junction with the old road and Pechuck trailhead. This road is gated and no longer accessible. From here, you can either head up the trail that continues across the road or turn left to follow the road to the old lookout access road.

Looking left on the road from old trailhead
Were the trail continues across the road

Garnet had already continued on up the trail by the time his mom and I reached this junction. I remembered reading something about turning on a road but Garnet had the screenshot of the description. We decided to take the more obvious option and continued up the trail as well. This section of trail is where you will gain back all the elevation you lost as it quickly switchbacks up. Parts of it looked like it was beginning to erode due to damage from the fire and one particular section skirted along the edge of an old quarry that wasn’t super friendly to those afraid of heights. It flattens out again before the trail meets up with the old access road to finish the final climb. Once we saw the old access road, Garnet’s mom and I questioned whether it met up with the other road or not. We both agreed that we rather hike back that way if it does. We reached the composting toilet and knew we were almost there. You can just barely see the top of the lookout from it. The day was starting to heat up and I had already drank one of my 32oz bottles of water. We were overdue for lunch by the time we reached the lookout, but we were all determined to have it on the summit.

Composting toilet

We decided to take some pictures around the lookout and in the cupola while Garnet’s mom headed off to find a good lunch spot in the shade. The lookout is in decent condition, but does have a smell to it from its rodent inhabitants over winter. The ladder to climb up to the cupola was a bit ricketier than I’d like but I was still able to manage. Personally, I’m not sure if I’d want to spend the night here with all the signs of rats unless it was an emergency. There was wide spread haze in Oregon obstructing the view from the cupola. I assumed this is mostly from the wildfires in Canada, but could also be from the newly formed Tunnel Five Fire in Washington. Though the site doesn’t offer much of an expansive view beyond the immediate ridge lines even on a clear day. Oregon has somehow escaped the wildfires so far this season, but I have a feeling this will be short lived as the heat advisory continues. I signed the log book in the geocache and headed for the shade. We all felt reenergized for the hike back after our lunch. While I was packing up, I noticed a butterfly sucking up the salt from my sweat that had made it on to my pack. I tried to remove it a couple times, but it kept flying back to my pack. Eventually, I had to coax it onto my finger so I could finish packing up without accidentally squishing it. The butterfly was unbothered and I encouraged it on to Garnet’s hand instead. It was really enjoying the salt we had to offer. It probably would have made the entire hike back with us if we let it.

As we started our hike back, we came to the junction where the trail forks from the old lookout access road. Garnet was unsure of going down the road since we didn’t know for sure if it met up with the road we needed. There was a rudimentary map on the back of the door in the lookout that showed this as a trail heading down to a spring. But, more importantly it also showed it meeting up with the road we needed. Garnet didn’t want to make the call incase the map was wrong, but I was confident and started to head down the road. There was a bit of blow down along the access road but nothing unmanageable. Sure enough the road made a sharp left turn before spitting us out on the road. We followed it past the quarry where the trail hikes above and continued until we were back at the old trailhead. This felt like a much easier route in my opinion as long as you know where you’re headed. From the trailhead, the hike back followed the same route as before. Make sure to keep an eye out for the unmarked junction back to the Rooster Rock trailhead, it is less visible from the High Ridge trail and could be easily missed. Especially, if you spend a lot of your hike staring at your boots like me.

Old lookout access road heads up to the right
Old Pechuck trailhead
Junction with Rooster Rock trail from High Ridge trail

My Strava app calculated our total hike at 5.62 miles with 1,529′ of elevation gain. We didn’t see anyone else on trail all day. We did however come back to another car parked at the trailhead. Garnet had made it back to the car first and had seen the people. He said they got out of their car and despite seeing him hiking down the actual trail headed off down the decommissioned road. As we were packing things into our car, they came back. Garnet’s mom asked if they were looking for the trail and pointed them towards the actual trail, but they said they were only looking for service on their phone. They stood at the base of the trail for a while and eventually started hiking up. We all agreed it seemed a bit late in the day to be starting this hike, especially since they only had a small hydration pack between the two of them. The days might be longer right now, but it is always good to be over prepared and plan for extra time when venturing out.

Mosaic burn pattern from the Beachie Creek Fire

History.

Pechuck was first defined as a fire detection site in 1918 when a fire finder was mounted to an open stand. The only access to this site at the time was from the Table Rock Trail through the Table Rock Wilderness. The existing structure was built in 1932 as a unique cupola style cabin. It was built primarily out of native stone from resources nearby with some wood frame details. The contractor that completed this lookout was John Oblack from Molalla with the assistance of an unnamed Portland stone mason. It was actively staffed until 1964 and completely abandoned in 1965. The building was restored and opened to public use in 1995 by Pete Bond and a group of volunteers. Pete Bond was a Trails Coordinator of the Oregon Department of State Parks in Salem. Thanks to his work the lookout is open to overnight stays on a first come, first serve basis. It was also one of the first couple of lookouts added to the NHLR.

More information.

Oregon Hikers

Bureau of Land Management

AllTrails