Klamath County

Bly Ranger Station L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Community Park in Bly, Oregon

Status.

Maintained for educational purposes

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

5-1/2 hours

Date visited.

June 27, 2022

Elevation.

4,365′ (original)

National Historic Lookout Register.

Yes

Trip Report.

Day 3/10: Lookout Road Trip 2022

After a quick visit to Chase Mountain, we were back on HWY-66 heading east once again. We skirted around Klamath Falls and connected to HWY-140 towards the community of Bly. The Fire Lookout is located in a small community park labeled The Perch. It’s a bright red lookout, so you won’t be able to miss it from the highway. It’s fittingly located next to the Bly Rural Fire Protection District building. We made a quick stop here to check it out. There was no one else at the park during our visit. I’m not sure if that was due to the heat or the swarm of mosquitoes that seemed to be living here. The lookout cab was filled with all sorts of different fire related paraphernalia. Other than the lookout, there were some picnic tables, a play ground, public restrooms, two stacked cars (art display?), and an informative Oregon History kiosk about the Balloon Bombs from World War II.

We continued on to the Ranger Station afterwards to see if they were finally open and if they had some Ranger District maps that we wanted. For the last two years, it felt like they would never open again or at least that’s what my partner thought. We were surprised to find them open, but they didn’t have the maps we needed. A fire crew had apparently cleared them out. We headed briefly on HWY-140 again to the Sprague River National Forest Picnic Area. We stopped here to have lunch and refill our water jugs. Little did we know all of Klamath County was in a drought and had turned off all public water access in parks and campgrounds. Even with an exponentially wet spring some places were still in drought. A crucial misstep in our route planning as the majority of our trip was within Klamath County. We decided not to completely panic yet since we still had seven gallons. But, we knew at some point we’d have to figured something else out. On to Dog Mountain for now.

History.

The Bly Ranger Station was first used as a fire lookout in 1934 with a platform on top of the warehouse roof. In 1958, a 20′ timber tower with 7×7 flat roof cab was constructed on the compound. It was only ever used during emergencies. In 2007, the lookout tower was decommissioned and dismantled. The superstructure was destroyed, but the cab was moved to the community park for display. The community park is less than a mile from the Ranger Station.

Chase Mountain L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Klamath County; Oregon Department of Forestry

Status.

Emergency; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

5-1/2 hours

Date visited.

June 27, 2022

Elevation.

6,349′

National Historic Lookout Register.

Yes

Trip Report.

Day 3/10: Lookout Road Trip 2022

We were up, packed, and headed east on HWY-66 before 9AM this morning. The plan for the day was to hit Chase Mountain, Bly Ranger Station, and Dog Mountain. If possible, we would find a dispersed camp spot close to Dog Mountain in the Fremont-Winema NF for the night. We passed the turn off for Parker Mountain L.O. again and then passed a sign for Mule Hill L.O. We both did a double take and pulled over to see if we could get service to verify. The service was slow and spotty, but we were pretty confident it was no longer there. We decided to head on to Chase Mountain without checking it out, but would re-verify on the summit. Spoiler: it’s gone. From HWY-66, we turned on to Hamacker Mountain Road. This is a paved road that will do most of the climbing for you and can take you all the way to the summit of Hamacker Mountain. The turn off for Chase Mountain is roughly 5-1/2 miles up the pavement off to the right. It is an unmarked road, so it was helpful to turn on our odometer. There were two roads off to the right around this mile point. One was dirt and the other was gravel. You will want to take the good gravel road. The gravel ends just before you reach the summit and the road deteriorates. We parked in a pull out slightly after where the road turned to cinder.

Despite camping near a reservoir the last two nights, the bugs had been minimal. When we stepped out of our car here, we were immediately swarmed by mosquitoes. I had forgotten how annoying these little buggers are. It was already feeling warm for the day, so we were thankful for a short walk. We were on the summit a little after 10AM. This is another summit covered in communication buildings, shocking I know. They obstructed a lot of the views north and south of the lookout. But we got a pretty good view to the west from where we had come. The lookout tower itself is no longer staffed and looked a little worse for wear. We were pleased that our progress had been successful so far and moved on to our next target for the day.

History.

The existing Fire Lookout on Chase Mountain was built in 1951 by Pade & Holland Sheet Metal Co. It was constructed as a 20′ steel tower with 14×14 cab. It was actively staffed up until the 2010s and even had some remodel work done in 2004. It was initially started with an observation platform atop a 12×12 cabin in the early 1920s. This was later moved below the summit and converted to living quarters. It has seen a few different structures since then. A 10×10 gable roofed structure was added in the late 1920s. In 1935, a new tower was constructed. In 1943, another frame cabin was built. I couldn’t find the specifics on the size and shape of these structures. One of them was moved to Hamelton Butte after the steel tower was built, but it is unclear which structure it was.

Parker Mountain L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Klamath County; Oregon Department of Forestry

Status.

Active; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

6 hours

Date visited.

June 26, 2022

Elevation.

5,210′

National Historic Lookout Register.

Yes

Trip Report.

Day 2/10: Lookout Road Trip 2022

My partner, for some reason, only brought one 32oz water bottle with him for the day and had easily drank it all on our hike to Soda Mountain. We were headed east on HWY-66 towards the community of Pinehurst, but we needed to find water if we wanted to continue on to Parker Mountain. We stopped near the Green Springs Inn & Cabins to see if there was anywhere to fill up. It had a small information center dedicated to the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, but no one was inside. The BBQ restaurant attached to the Inn was closed too, but they had an accessible water fill station outside. Thank you Green Springs Inn! We came to the conclusion on our drive to Parker Mountain that HWY-66 is one of the sleepiest highways we’ve ever driven. You might pass one car every 10 minutes. There will be a sign from the highway for the needed turn to Parker Mountain L.O. It is otherwise an unmarked junction. Once off the highway, we immediately passed through an open gate to a four way junction. I believe the gate is closed seasonally during the winter. This is unsigned but you will want to continue straight. We followed this road to another junction that was surprisingly signed for Parker Mountain. It looked like a fairly new sign too. If for some reason the sign isn’t there, you will want to take the road to the right. The road starts to deteriorate after this junction with larger rocks to avoid. We decided to park near the sign and walk the remaining mile and a half to the lookout.

We started hiking during the hottest part of the day. I had to take a much needed break in every patch of shade I found. It felt like it took us forever to get anywhere. There are some spurs leading off of this road, but I felt it was fairly obvious which road you need to stay on. Parker Mountain was one of the few lookouts during this trip that was supposedly staffed. We eventually came to the gate and found it was open. Just past the gate you will get your first glimpse of the lookout. It appeared to be open for the season. As we got closer, we approached with caution. We never want to disturb the fire attendant or make them feel like we are invading their space. Turns out it was all for naught since no one was there. Though, there were signs of someone recently being there and the cab had been opened up. We speculated that they were either on their day off or hadn’t started their season yet. Either way it gave us free range to climb the tower and explore the summit fully. The catwalk was still locked, of course, but we were able to get a pretty good view from the highest landing. It was nice to be on a summit without a bunch of communication equipment for a change. I really enjoyed the sizing of the staircase on this lookout too. The steps weren’t as narrow or steep as other towers. There was also a water barrel and trough located under one of the trees for the wildlife. It was fun to watch all the different little birdies come down to take a drink. After Parker Mountain, we decided to head back to camp for a quick dinner in between lookouts.

History.

The first Fire Lookout was constructed on Parker Mountain in 1934 by the CCC. It was a 50′ round timber tower with a steeply pitched roof. John Colvard of the Klamath Forest Protective Association primarily staffed this lookout for almost 20 years until he passed away in 1952. He previously worked on Calimus Butte for 3 years when it was used as the main fire lookout for Klamath Indian Reservation. In 1956, the previous tower was replaced by a 30′ steel tower with 14×14 wooden cab. In 1965, Parker Mountain was considered one of four lookouts located on Weyerhaeuser Company land. They allowed a permit for the Klamath FPA to continue maintaining and staffing the existing lookout. Eventually, it was managed and operated by the Oregon Department of Forestry. I’m not sure when exactly the land and Fire Lookout changed hands though. There was an old 16×24 living quarters cabin that was purposefully burned in 1968 due to being unusable. The steel tower was damaged by an arsonist in 1995 and needed to be replaced. In 1997, the existing lookout was constructed by the Steve Burrows Construction Company. It is an ODF design with 40′ steel tower and 15×15 wood cab. It is still actively staffed every season.