Location.
Fremont-Winema National Forest
Status.
Unknown; Currently standing
Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.
7 hours
Date visited.
June 27, 2022
Elevation.
6,936′
National Historic Lookout Register.
Yes
Trip Report.
Day 3/10: Lookout Road Trip 2022
Our last stop for the day was Dog Mountain L.O. on the Fremont-Winema NF. This is another one we expected to be staffed during our visit. From Bly, you can either cut across the forest via connecting Forest Service roads or take the highway. It seemed that most who visited this lookout previously came in from Lakeview. Some of the trip reports even mentioned it was a good road for low clearance vehicles all the way to the summit. I was skeptical to say the least. I felt the pavement would be the quickest way and we headed out of Bly on HWY-140. There are a few different routes you can take from here. We ended up turning onto Tunnel Hill Road that eventually turned into Westside Road. We stayed on this road until we reached Dog Lake Lane. Take a right. As the name of the road indicates it will take you all the way to Dog Lake. There is a campground and day use area here. You should be able to see the fortress of a lookout from the road as you drive in. Once past the reservoir the road turns to gravel. We turned on the first major gravel road off to the right. This is supposedly NF-3752 but I didn’t see a sign. We briefly stayed on this road and then turned right on to NF-406. I didn’t see a sign for this road either but it appeared to head in the right direction. Some indicators that you’re on the right road; there will be a cattle guard and it will be at a junction with NF-085 off to the left (this road is signed). From this junction, it is about 5-1/2 miles to the summit. The NF-406 road will take you all the way. You will want to bear right when you reach the junction with NF-052 to stay on the correct path. The road is exposed and narrow as it winds up and around. We hoped not to meet anyone on it. There is no gate for this lookout and you can, in fact, drive all the way to the summit. Even in a low clearance vehicle.
There was no other vehicle here and the lookout seemed to still be locked up for the season. We found this odd since most sources noted it as staffed. We looked around through the windows and it was still stocked like a lookout in use. There was a fire finder, desk, and chairs along with some other items that indicated someone had been up there more recently. But, on the other hand, there was a visible Lookout Fire Report sheet that was last used in June 2020, the toilet seat was broken in the privy, and a wood rat had made its home in between one of the shutters. There was also a fire alarm beeping in the living quarters below that needed the batteries changed. Our guess was that it might have been recently moved to emergency status or had a staffing issue. We decided to camp on the summit for the night since no one was there. Someone else drove up a little after we set up our camp. We panicked and thought it might be the lookout attendant, but they was only there with their dog for a brief time and didn’t say a word to us. The views from here were commanding. We could see all the way to Lassen Peak in California. It was one of my favorite camps of the trip.
History.
Dog Mountain started with a simple Alidade and has been used as a lookout site since 1918. Possibly earlier. A standard D-6 cupola cabin wasn’t added until 1926. An accompanying 16×18 wood framed garage was added in 1934 by the local CCC. In 1947, a new 14×14 Aladdin style house was constructed as a lookout with no catwalk. It was maintained into the 1980s. The Forest Service didn’t consider replacing it until an inspection report in 1995. The site was also noted as being used for a long-term weather station. In 1997, the lookout that stands today was built by Hargrove Construction as a replacement. They built a unique 2-story house with living quarters on the first floor and the lookout office with catwalk on the second. It reminds me of a log cabin.
The Roaming Civic 