Trip Report.

This was the first fire lookout I ever visited! I was staying with a friend in Tacoma for the weekend and we decided to go on a hike with one of their friends. Their friend had done this trail before and thought I would love it. They, of course, were right. The views were stunning even from the Sunrise Visitor parking lot and only continued to get better. We took the Sourdough ridge trail until we met up with the other trail junctions near Frozen Lake. The Mount Fremont Lookout trail continues to the right up the ridge. It was only 2.8 miles to the lookout with 900 feet of elevation gain from the parking lot. The trail is very exposed most of the way up, so make sure to come prepared. I didn’t end up getting close to the lookout because I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to at the time. I thought it might have been actively staffed. It’s noted that it is still used by volunteers and park rangers occasionally, but open to climb the stairs and catwalk. The WTA was doing some major work on the trail when we visited. After looking at descriptions of the trail now it appears they were adding stairs to help with erosion. Their project took most of the summer in 2017 to complete.

History.

Mount Fremont Lookout is a standard National Park fashion 2-story frame cab that was built back in 1934 by the Emergency Conservation Works Association. This is one of four lookouts within the National Park and by far the easiest to access. It’s also the highest lookout in the park with an elevation above 7,000 feet.

More Information.

National Park Service

Washington Trails Association

AllTrails