We still had one more night of our trip but I had fudged the reservation at Pickett Butte and only booked two nights. We brought all our gear to disperse camp for the final night. The trickiest part would be locating a good spot to camp. We got up early enough to pack up our things and clean up the fire lookout before locking up. Always try to leave it better than you found it. We headed back out to the paved CR-46 and turned right to head deeper into the forest. If you stay on CR-46 long enough it eventually turns into NF-28 once you have reached the forest boundary. We drove a little bit past our turn for Acker Rock to check out the South Umpqua Falls first. This is a popular swimming area in the summer when the water and current are not as strong. There were still a handful of people here trying to take advantage of the warm weekend in the shallower areas. We didn’t stay too long since the day was only getting warmer and we didn’t want to be hiking in the heat of the day if possible.
We back tracked a bit to cross the South Umpqua River on NF-29 and followed this to NF-2838 off to the left. We stayed on NF-2838 until we reached the gated NF-950 where the road walking would begin. There were a couple signs for Acker Rock along this route that made it easy to navigate. This is a rentable fire lookout as well, but the season is much shorter and it does not open until August 1st. We decided to visit outside of the rental season since it’s directly on the ground and would make it hard to visit without disturbing the renters. There was one other car parked near the gate when we arrived and we could only assume they were at the lookout. If you are renting, you should get a code to unlock the gate to drive closer. Though there is still a short but steep 0.4 mile hike to the fire lookout to be aware of. We packed a lunch to have at the lookout and began our road walk. It’s fairly straight forward. We followed the road until it dead ends in a parking/turn around area. From there, it turns into more of a trail that switchbacks up the side of the ridge. You will pass the exposed composting toilet on your way up and hope that no one is using it at the time of your visit (or hope that no comes up while you are using it). There were some smaller downed trees we had to navigate around at the start of the trail, but I’d be surprised if someone hadn’t cleaned them up since our visit. There was no one else at the lookout when we arrived and we didn’t run into anyone along the road either. We speculated that maybe the vehicle was abandoned or they were wondering somewhere off trail. We eventually got our answer as we saw two guys rock climbing up the other side of the ridge. One of them came over to check out the lookout while we were having lunch and gave himself a scare when he didn’t hear us. We spent a good chunk of time hanging out at this lookout since the only thing left to do for the day was find a place to camp.
The Strava app calculated this hike at 3.08 miles RT with 1,025′ of elevation gain. You can assume the road is around 1-1/2 miles from the gate to the summit. We ended up camping off the side of a road in a grassy pull out for the night. We passed up a couple different official dispersed spots given their location or otherwise. Not all dispersed camp spots end up being what we want and are more about convenience for the night. There were a couple of campgrounds in the area, but we had passed on those as well.
History.
Acker Rock was first established as a fire lookout site in 1932-1934 when a 14×14 L-4 gable roofed ground cabin was built on the summit. At the time the lookout was accessible by driving 21 miles outside of Tiller and then hiking an additional 3 miles. It was noted as possibly being used as a lookout point prior to this but no structure was utilized. It was replaced in 1963-1964 by the current R-6 flat cab structure and was staffed until at least the late 1980’s. Given the precarious location of the lookout, replacing the structure was no easy task and required helicopter assistance. A news article from 1963 stated “the lookout house appeared to be supported on one side by rock and on the other by little more than imagination”. In 2006, the roof was replaced and needed repairs were completed before it was added to the current rental program.
After heading back down from Bland Mountain (post), we continued our route along county HWY-1 to reach the community of Tiller. The ranger station is easily located after crossing the South Umpqua River on the left hand side. The office building was already closed for the evening but you are still welcome to explore the grounds. The access to the re-located fire lookout is found to the right of the main parking lot via a short trail. You can see the fire lookout from the lot and it is well signed for access. The lookout was closed up for our visit, but I believe they open it up to visitors during working hours upon request. Despite being well cared for throughout the years, it is definitely starting to show its age. I’m curious to see if access and maintenance on the lookout will change once the rangers are relocated to Canyonville. I would guess that it would make it and the other historic buildings onsite an easier target for vandals. Strava tracked the walk as only 0.24 miles RT with not enough elevation change to register. There wasn’t much to note about out visit except there is a spigot in the parking lot that provides water to the public. After taking a refreshing rinse, we continued on into the forest for the weekend.
History.
The original site of Red Mountain was developed in 1921 by adding a 25′ platform crows nest with tent camp. A D-6 style 12’x12′ cupola cabin was added to the site in 1928. The fire lookout was actively staffed into the 1960s. It sat unused on the site until it was relocated to the Tiller Ranger Station in the fall of 1985. There is a dedication plaque on the lookout crediting Roy O. Brogden, District Ranger 1984-1998, with heading the relocation and restoration efforts in this area. Restoration work was completed in June 1986 by a combined effort of the Forest Service, State Historic Preservation Office, and the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Additional restoration work was completed in 2000 by community volunteers in celebration of National Public Lands day. The site is open to self guided tours at anytime, but the lookout itself is locked. You can inquire about gaining access between Monday through Friday from 8am to 3:30pm. I’m unsure if access to the interior will be available after they move the Rangers stationed here to Canyonville.
We were headed out on a four day trip to explore the South Umpqua drainage in celebration of Garnet’s 30th birthday. I had booked Pickett Butte for two nights and we planned to disperse camp for the third night. Bland Mountain was planned as our first stop before heading into the forest for the weekend. It is located just outside of the community of Days Creek on BLM land. From Portland, we shot down I-5 all the way to Canyonville and turned onto county HWY-1 to head towards Tiller. We followed this to Days Creek where we hung a left onto Days Creek Road. The road is located right off the bend entering the community. We were following the directions off a Peakbagger report from Dennis Poulin. He seems to have a lot of helpful reports on Peakbagger in relation to accessing fire lookouts. I always click on his reports first when I see his name listed. Unfortunately, we saw somewhere that he had passed away (may he rest in peace). His directions indicated that the BLM road 30-4-10 was only 2 miles down Days Creek Road. This was helpful since most of the roads off of Days Creek are private drives. There was a sign for the BLM road, but it would have been impossible to spot from the main road due to it being turned around and slightly leaning in the brush. It’s easy enough to locate if you keep an eye out for a main gravel road off to the right around the two mile marker. Once on the BLM road 30-4-10 its a little under 2-1/2 miles to the gate for Bland Mountain. There was one junction that wasn’t mentioned on the directions after we entered a clear cut and had a view of the fire lookout ahead. The road we were on looked to continue straight but there was another road veering right that looked like it could have headed toward the summit as well. We stayed left (straight) since it wasn’t mentioned. The next junction we met off to the right was on a bend in the road and was the one we took to reach the gate. The gate is shortly after you start up this road and doesn’t offer much room to turn around. I’d recommend parking below and hiking up from there if you’re not comfortable making a tight turn around or backing down the road. We parked at the gate and prepared to walk the remaining distance. As I was turning around the car I noticed an animal off to the left. This might be one of the strangest things I’ve seen in a while, but it was a llama free range grazing near the gate. I can only assume it was owned by someone in the area, but there was no one else around that we could see.
There wasn’t much to note about the road walk to the summit except that it was too hot and dry for early May. I feel like we’re gearing up for a terrible fire season this year *narrator: a terrible fire season indeed*. This entire spring has been lacking what Oregon is best known for, rain. There was a pretty display of California Poppies lining the road. I even found signs of an old gate that was probably used back when the fire lookout was staffed. The final spur to the fire lookout was off to the right while the main road continued straight. Despite being a short hike, I was struggling in the heat by the time I reached the base of the tower. I waved to the fairly new looking camera and headed for a spot in the shade of the tower. A new lock had been added to the trap door to keep visitors from accessing the catwalk and, more importantly, to keep them away from the fancy equipment. The view was pretty much the same from the base of the tower anyway. I found this lookout and summit to be accurately named. It does have a uniquely repurposed base to add interest though. We didn’t linger for too long since we still wanted to visit the lookout at the Tiller Ranger station and get settled at Pickett Butte for the night. All the roads getting here were good pavement or decent gravel and we had no issues in our Civic. The hike along the road came in at 1.75 miles RT with 472′ of elevation gain on the Strava App.
History.
Bland Mountain was established as a fire detection site in 1942 with a tent camp. The first tower was built in 1947 as a 20′ treated timber tower with 14’x14′ cab. The NHLR notes it as being a 25′ tower. The base was replaced in 1996 by a 20′ tapered metal tower that was formerly used to support a water tank. It was actively staffed up until the late 2000s, but has since been abandoned. It’s most likely still listed for emergency status. A camera has been added to the cab for surveillance of the area.
It seems that stumbling upon available fire lookout reservations has been our luck. We have yet to actively seek out renting a fire lookout, but have simply been looking at the recreation.gov page at the right time. This was how we acquired our Steliko Point (post) reservation and that is essentially how we acquired this one. I feel fortunate in this aspect since some people attempt for years to get certain reservations with no luck. We were searching for potential places to travel during my birthday trip in April and stumbled upon Pickett Butte availability. At first glance we thought the dates were for April, but quickly realized it was available during Garnet’s birthday weekend in May instead. We decided to roll the dice and book it with hopes of it being snow free with decent weather. It is a fairly low elevation fire lookout, so the main concern was how the weather would pan out. I did end up fudging our reservation a bit because I thought I needed to wait to book the third night, only to realize I should have booked it at the same time (a little too late). This was not a big deal to us, it just meant we needed to bring more gear to accommodate dispersed camping for one of the nights we’d be gone. Somehow our gamble paid off and the weather was forecasting in the mid 80s with sunny clear skies for the whole weekend.
Friday.
We headed out via I-5 and exited in Canyonville to turn towards Tiller on the county HWY-1 making brief stops at Bland Mountain (post) and the Tiller Ranger station (post). We turned onto CR-46 that is situated right before the ranger station. We stayed on this for 3 miles until it reached a signed junction with NF-3113 off to right. The route is well signed and seemed to be well maintained. We stayed on NF-3113 for 5 miles until we reached another signed junction with NF-300. It is an additional 2 miles to the fire lookout from this junction. There is a gate below the lookout that you will need the code for if you have a reservation for the night. Otherwise, this is where you would park to walk the remaining 0.6 miles along the road. Though the best time to visit if you’re not planning to make a reservation would be from mid-June to mid-October when it is staffed for the season. Keep in mind whether you visit during the active fire season or the renter season, it is their space and inviting you up to enjoy the view is at the discretion of those onsite. The road beyond the gate had the most signs of wear with a few water runoffs starting to form across it. There were a handful of potholes along the entire route, but they were minimal and easily avoided. This is probably one of the easier rentable fire lookouts to access in Oregon. Once parked we debated what we wanted to haul up or not. We thought it would be novel to cook something in the fire lookout, but ultimately opted to leave our food/cooking at ground level. There is a crate on a hand wench system to help bring your gear up, but it’s small and would require many loads. The stairs are also narrow and steeply pitched, more so than other fire lookouts we have visited. I could see making this effort if we had planned to hang around the fire lookout all weekend. But per usual, we had our days fully packed and only hauled the essentials to the top.
Saturday.
Our plan for the day was to back track out the way we came and continue further on county HWY-1 in search of the crows nest on Callahan Mountain. All the sources we found online claimed it was still standing and should be there. There are no trails or roads that lead directly to the summit, but we were able to get close enough to hike cross country the remaining distance. After a bit of wandering around the summit Garnet was able to identify the tree by a remaining grounding wire hanging from the branch. We are happy to confirm the tree is still very much alive and well with minimal evidence that it was ever used for fire detection. After a successful find, we headed back up CR-46 passing our turn off for Pickett Butte and continuing on to Cathedral Falls and the (former) World’s Tallest Sugarpine. There was some debate prior to our trip about adding in a former fire lookout site, but we were already feeling the fatigue from the heat and decided to enjoy a more leisurely afternoon instead. We stopped at a nice spot with access to Jackson Creek along NF-29 to cool off before heading back to the lookout for the evening.
Sunday.
We spent our morning packing up our gear since we wouldn’t be coming back to Pickett Butte for the night. Our agenda for the day included a stop at South Umpqua Falls and a hike to Acker Rock. That gave us the rest of the evening to locate a dispersed camp spot in the area. We had already spotted a few around, so we knew they existed. Our day eventually ended in a grassy pull out after passing up and vetoing a couple of our more official dispersed options. Nothing felt quit right to either of us. It wasn’t our best camp spot but it wasn’t our worst either. Thankfully the temperatures were much cooler that evening which was a nice change after feeling over heated the entire trip. We both agreed this area was pretty, but we much preferred the vibe of the North Umpqua area. Monday was spent driving home and finding out we missed a spectacular show of Northern Lights after coming back into service. It was unfortunate since where we were would have been a great spot to see them if we hadn’t been asleep. We didn’t even stay up for our regular star gazing and Milky Way.
History.
Pickett Butte gets its name from the homesteader, William T. Pickett. He traveled to the area via horseback in 1898 and decided to stay. The first lookout structure was built on the butte by the CCC in 1934 as a 25′ round timber tower with L-5 cab. It was replaced in 1941 by the current 41′ treated timber tower with L-4 cab. It was actively staffed up until the late 1990s. Eventually it was moved to the rental program for recreational use. In 2001, it was moved back into active duty to be staffed during the fire season while only offering this as a rental during the off season. As far as I can tell, this still remains to be true.
The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is an important wetland for year round resident birds and wildlife managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It’s also a major stop over for migrating birds along the Pacific Flyway. It is located in the south-eastern portion of Oregon’s high desert and is considered part of the start of the Great Basin. The Refuge was established in 1908 to help protect the migratory bird population and now encompasses over 187,000 acres. Within the boundaries of the Refuge, you will find more than just a plethora of wildlife and resources. There is also a significant amount of history ranging from early Indigenous peoples (Petroglyphs) to the first European settlers of the area (Round Barn, P Ranch, & Sod House).
I decided to spend my birthday camping near the Malheur NWR in hopes of seeing a decent amount of birds and visiting the lookout towers noted in the area. Early April is always a challenging time when trying to locate a place to camp with decent weather. I was robbed again of visiting the Enchanted Valley in the Olympic National Park and almost everywhere in the state was forecast to be wet. I didn’t realize until the morning of our departure that this was the exact same weekend of the Migratory Bird Festival in Burns, OR. We were a bit concerned about not being able to secure a spot at the Page Springs Campground after reading about it. Many birders come to this area in early spring to watch the migrations. One might say they flock to the area, har har. But, we decided to risk it and hoped for the best. It took us around 7 hours from Portland to reach the area. We were lucky to be coming in on a Thursday and were able to find a camp spot, almost all were taken by the end of the day.
We were able to visit all four of the towers in one full day along with the visitor center and taking the auto tour through the Refuge. Our second day we had hoped to visit Riddle Mountain L.O., but decided not to continue our attempt after meeting a particularly muddy section on the road. Our tire had even sunk in a bit after making an attempt to circumvent it. We knew there was still snow on top from the AlertWildfire camera, but figured it was hikable if we could have driven closer. This one will have to wait for when we know the area will be dry. It was a bit of a disappointment since this one is very isolated to reach and will require its own trip. The trade off was that we now had time to see the Round Barn, the Diamond Craters Outstanding Natural Area, the petroglyphs near Krumbo reservoir, and the old homestead site at Benson Pond. We were pretty lucky on our weather conditions as well. The highs were in the 70s and we got mostly sunny skies during our trip. The forecasted thunderstorms and rain seemed to only roll in during the evening and were usually gone by the morning. Minus our final morning, where we had to pack up everything wet while it rained.
I will preface this list below with the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any confirmed evidence that any of these were used to detect wildfires. I am still going to count them towards my total, but I’m inclined to believe they were built and used primarily for wildlife viewing in the area. Two of them are even listed on the NHLR, but I think that mostly has to do with the fact that they are the same Aermotor design as a fire lookout. I found this interesting since I have gotten some push back on a couple sites I tried to nominate due to not meeting requirements. Everyone has their own qualifications on what they count as a fire lookout. My personal take is that if a structure, of any form, was used in the detection and spotting of wildfires it should still count no matter if it has been relocated or not. If said structure, of any form, is still intact at the original site or standing it should still count as existing. It becomes a former site, in my mind, once the structure has fully collapsed, been removed, or burned down. Take that for what it is, my opinion.
P Ranch.
Date visited.
April 11, 2024; April 12, 2024
National Historic Lookout Register.
US 430; OR 55
About.
The 72′ Aermotor tower with 7’x7′ cab was built by the CCC in 1933 near the site of the original P Ranch. Most of the ranch buildings were demolished by the CCC during the same time and the main ranch house burned in 1947. In 1935, the site became a part of the adjacent Wildlife Refuge. This tower can be easily accessed from Frenchglen by taking the Steens Mountain Loop road and turning left onto the Center Patrol Road. It’ll be the first left off the Central Patrol Road and can be found by following the signs to P-Ranch. It sticks up high enough though that you will see. The area around the base of the tower is closed due to wildlife, but it can easily be viewed from the road, parking lot, or the Riverview trail. I really enjoyed how the Turkey Vultures used this one to roost at night. This is stop #19 on the Blitzen Valley Auto Tour Route.
Sod House (Headquarters).
Date visited.
April 12, 2024
National Historic Lookout Register.
US 429; OR 54
About.
The Aermotor tower with 7’x7′ cab was also built by the CCC in the 1930s. It was most likely completed around the same time as the Refuge headquarters in 1935. I found conflicting information on height varying from 80′ (NHLR) to 90′ (Rex’s Fire Lookout Page) to 99′ (Burns Herald-Times). This tower is easily accessed from HWY-205 by turning on to Sodhouse Lane and following the signs for the Refuge visitor center. You can either drive right up to the base or access it from the short Overlook trail starting at the visitor center. The trail is only 0.11 miles of packed gravel. You can walk up to the base of this tower, but the bottom stairs have been removed to keep visitors from climbing it. The base of the tower offers a nice view out over Malheur Lake and the headquarter grounds below. This is stop #1 on the Blitzen Valley Auto Tour Route.
Stubblefield Butte.
Date visited.
April 12, 2024
National Historic Lookout Register.
Not registered.
About.
This 50′ tower with wooden platform was built by the CCC in the 1930s. It appears that the main access is from the road along the Stubblefied Canal, but the area has since been closed to the public due to wildlife. It is best viewed from HWY-205, but can be seen from the Center Patrol Road as well. We found the best view was from a small pull out just across the highway from a private residence near Saddle Butte. You might be able to get a closer look from hiking along adjoining BLM land, but make sure to have a decent map. It’s not completely clear on what is private and BLM land beyond the fence line. I recommend a good pair of binoculars for viewing. This tower still has it’s stairs intact due to the limited accessibility.
Rattlesnake.
Date visited.
April 12, 2024
National Historic Lookout Register.
Not registered.
About.
This 50′ tower with wooden platform was built by the CCC in the 1930s. It is best viewed from the Center Patrol Road that is considered a part of the Auto tour route of the Refuge. This is included in stop #6 on the Blitzen Valley Auto Tour Route. You can no longer walk up to the base of the tower, but the road gets you really close. The surrounding area is closed to the public due to wildlife. The stairs on the tower have been removed to dissuade visitors from attempting to climb the tower. The tower is named after the larger Rattlesnake Butte across the road that used to provide the only natural crossing of the Blitzen River for miles.
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!
Friday, September 1st – The Summit Point trailhead is best accessed from HWY-86 via NF-77 to NF-7715 just before reaching Halfway, Oregon. We initially drove past this junction to check out the fire lookout at the Pine Ranger Station (post). After a quick stop, we back tracked to turn onto NF-77. This junction on HWY-86 is signed, but for some reason is labeled as the Summit Creek L.O. instead of Summit Point. I’m not sure if it was actually ever referred to as such or if it was just a misprint too costly to fix. We drove roughly 11 miles on NF-77 before we reached another signed junction with NF-7715 to the right and the McBride Campground to the left. The sign on the NF-7715 road was correctly labeled and stated there were 5 more miles to reach the trailhead. We already knew we wouldn’t have enough time to make it to a backcountry camp before dark and turned into the McBride Campground to see if there were any available spots for the night. This is a free unmaintained campground that offers fire pits, picnic tables, and pit toilets that were surprisingly stocked with toilet paper. There is also water access along the Summit Creek from most of the camp spots. I was surprised to find an empty campground given that it was a Friday on Labor Day weekend. We picked a camp spot on the far right end near the creek to set up. This put us the farthest away from the entrance if someone did decide to join us later in the evening. Dinner was simple since we only had our backpacking food and equipment to fuss with. We fell asleep to a light rain and some nearby thunder, but I hoped it would clear up by morning.
Saturday, September 2nd – We still had the campground to ourselves when we awoke the next morning. The skies were cloudy and slightly threatening in comparison to the day prior. The pack up was simple and quick, but we still weren’t on the road until after 8:30AM. We are not early risers by any means and didn’t feel the need to rush given our proximity to the trailhead. The NF-77 road had been a good gravel road all the way up to the junction with the McBride Campground. There had been a few minor rocks or potholes, but nothing extraordinary. The start of NF-7715 wasn’t daunting and we hoped for similar conditions. I had read from a prior trip report that “most any vehicle with normal clearance can negotiate it, taking care in the bad spots”. We found this to be accurate and it took us 46 minutes to drive the 5 miles to the trailhead (my car’s odometer calculated it at 4.6 miles). I will say some of the bad sections were a bit intimidating, but going slow and thinking through your wheel placement helps. We were more determined to make it all the way since we would be backpacking beyond the fire lookout. We were also met by a truck coming down when we were heading up in a tricky spot. I wasn’t able to move out of the way due to washout on the road. They were nice enough to back up and let us pass, but I felt bad that I had to take up the whole road. There is ample parking at the trailhead and my Civic stuck out among the 4 other pick up trucks. It was not surprising to see people here since it was elk bow hunting season during a holiday weekend. The road continues beyond the trailhead parking for the lookout attendant to access the tower. There was a gate blocking this at one point, but I guess someone felt it was an inconvenience to them. We started our hike up the road with 45lbs each on our backs for the long weekend. We both hadn’t been backpacking much this summer due to our house duties and could feel the weight immediately. Garnet’s new bike commute is a marathon every day, 13 miles each way, that helps keep him fit. I’m not as active during the week since I drive to work and have a desk job, so one can assume I was feeling it a bit more than him. We are normally able to slip away for a night in the backcountry here and there throughout the summer to keep our backpacking legs in shape, but that hasn’t happened much this season either. I quickly fell behind as we continued to follow the road. I reached the junction where the road to the lookout continued to the right and our “trail” turned into an old road bed. I decided to drop my pack here to catch up with Garnet. The Strava app stated it was only 0.9 miles from the trailhead to the base of the fire lookout. The attendant must have had the day or weekend off since no one was onsite during our visit. This is an actively staffed fire lookout and it seemed too early for their season to be over. After taking in the view and some pictures, we headed back to where I dropped my pack. I reloaded my back with the 45lbs and we turned to continue on the official “trail” into the wilderness.
The Cliff River Trial #1885 starts out by following an old road bed that climbs up and over a hill to reach the meadow below Cornucopia Peak. We had to cross through a cattle guard and follow the fence line to reach the official wilderness boundary. The trail through the meadow can get convoluted with the many different user and game trails. We just followed the most defined of the trails to the base of Cornucopia Peak. If you have the time and energy to do some off trail navigation, Cornucopia Peak offers a rustic trail to a former fire lookout site. That wasn’t in our cards for this trip, but it was tempting being so close. Garnet had spotted an old hunting or mining cabin across the meadow on the way in and wanted to check it out while we were here. I decided to stop for snacks and to filter more water at a spring while he was off looking for the cabin. Our plan was to continue our climb along the Cliff River Trail to Crater Lake for the night. The Cliff River Trail continued to the left of Cornucopia Peak and steadily climbed up to a pass that met up with the Sullivan Trail #1946. I thought this was novel since my last name is Sullivan. From there, the trail dips down before climbing to another pass that meets up with the Pine Lakes Trail #1880. There is a lot of exposure along this section of trail and it is best done during a cooler day. I wouldn’t recommend it during the heat of summer. There was also quite a bit of erosion along this portion due to the loose scree texture of the slope. It’s not a matter of if, but when, this trail will eventually wash out. I’m not even sure trail maintenance would be able to help solve this issue given the terrain. Once at the second pass, you can see your destination off in the distance. The trail heads down from here to wind around the base of Granite Mountain until you reach the junction with the Little Kettle Creek Trail #1945. The Cliff River Trail continues all the way down to the South Fork Imnaha River, but to access Crater Lake we turned left onto the Little Kettle Creek Trail. It’s only a short distance along the Little Kettle Creek Trail to the lake. The hike from the trailhead to Summit Point and then on to Crater Lake had been 8.2 miles with 2,148′ of elevation gain. I’m not sure what it is about the Eagle Cap Wilderness, but it always seems to chew me up and spit me out rotten. Garnet had continued on ahead of me after we had reached the final pass and said he was getting ready to send out the search parties by the time I reached the lake. I dropped my pack once we found our camp for the night and laid on a nice cool rock for 30 minutes before moving again. Despite only seeing one couple hiking out from the Pine Lakes Trail, we shared the lake with two groups for the night. One was just a couple as well and the other was a group of six plus a few dogs.
Sunday, September 3rd – I had already decided the day prior that today was going to be a rest day. Garnet had previously mentioned hiking down to the South Fork Imnaha River, but we were both too tired after yesterdays hike. We spent the majority of the day reading and lounging around camp. Both groups that were camped at the lake packed up to either head out or hike deeper into the wilderness. This left the lake to us for the evening. We took a stroll around the perimeter of the lake to check out the other vacant camp spots. There were about 3 or 4 decent spots including ours and a couple of flat spots that would make due in a pinch. Despite getting quite a few people hiking past us along the Little Kettle Creek Trail, none stopped to camp at the lake. They all seemed to be heading back out to the trailhead, either Eagle East TH or Little Kettle Creek TH, coming from somewhere else within the wilderness. At one point during the day we were able to spot a mountain goat on the side of the ridge between Granite and Red Mountain. We watched it for a long time with our binoculars picking its way along the steep rocks. We gave up when some low hanging clouds rolled in to obstruct our view. Crater Lake sits just below 7,600′ which kept the temperatures cold all day. Rain rolled in later that evening and we could hear some distant thunder storms during the night. This made our tent feel extra cozy, but I hoped for clear skies in the morning.
Monday, September 4th – We initially planned to move our camp to Pine Lakes for the final night of our trip. But, after seeing how far we’d have to hike out to the Summit Point TH combined with the long drive home, we decided camping closer to the trailhead made more sense. The rain from the evening prior had thankfully stopped, but the clouds were still hanging low. We decided to try and find a camp for the night in the meadows below Cornucopia Peak. This would set us up for a much shorter hike out on Tuesday. The climb out from Crater Lake felt much easier than the hike in. Our packs were lighter than when we had started and the cloud coverage helped to keep the heat of the sun off of our backs. We only saw a group of three hiking into Crater Lake as we were hiking out. After 5.4 miles and 808′ of elevation gain we found ourselves back at the meadow. We knew there was a least one camp spot near the old cabin Garnet had checked out prior, but we decided to take a look around to see if there were any others among the trees. This is a popular area for cattle grazing, so it was hard to find a flat spot that wasn’t littered with cow pies. We eventually found a very old one set back from the trail with a fire ring that hadn’t been used in years. After setting up camp, I decided to take a hike over to the cabin since I didn’t check it out with Garnet. It was a surprisingly nice kept cabin that definitely is utilized by someone. The door frame was comically small and even shorter than me. I’m not sure the history of this cabin, but I would love to know. I realized you could see Summit Point from the cabin area and took a look at it through the binoculars. There was still no one there that I could see. We had a bit of service in camp and decided to check if there was a burn ban in effect for this area. There was not. We don’t normally go to the trouble of building a fire while backpacking, but it was cold and walking through the damp grass made our boots wet. This helped to keep us warm for the evening.
Tuesday, September 5th – We woke up to clearer skies and decided it might be worth making a trip back out to Summit Point for some better views. The hike out was going to be much shorter today, but we still had a 6-1/2 hour drive home. We saw quite a few people as we were heading out. Once we gained a view of the fire lookout again, we could see someone moving around in the cab. We decided to definitely make an extra side trip back since we were hopeful to meet the lookout attendant. We both dropped our packs at the junction this time and hiked the remaining distance along the road. As we approached the fire lookout we were surprised to see no vehicle. This was confusing since we definitely saw someone from a distance in the cab. There were also fresh tire marks on the road that hadn’t been there at the start of our trip. We also noticed the catwalk door was now open. All signs pointed to someone being there. The sun was positioned awkwardly where I couldn’t really see inside the cab from the ground. We weren’t sure if they had just left or if someone had dropped them off. As we walked around to take in some more pictures and better views, we both thought we could hear someone walking around in the cab. We stood where they could see us and decided to locate all the visible surrounding fire lookouts in hopes that they would come out to greet us eventually. After sometime we realized they probably didn’t want any visitors and said our good-byes to Summit Point. As we were turning around to leave Garnet said he saw the woman open the door to the cab, but I only heard the door when she shut it again. It was a bit odd since it seemed like she was going to come out to talk to us, but then decided against it. It’s possible she just thought we were another pair of hunters scoping the view for game. Regardless, It’s their space and should be respected. We hiked back to our packs and made the final decent to the car. The hike from our camp in the meadows to Summit Point and then back to the trailhead came out to 3.3 miles with 334′ of elevation gain. We decided to start a tradition of getting burgers after backpacking in Eagle Cap. Our first trip to the wilderness was in 2021 where we did a week long loop through a lesser used portion. It was rough and beautiful, but that trip kicked our butt too. We hiked out a day earlier than planned to get burgers and a beer at Terminal Gravity in Enterprise. They were the best burgers we’ve ever tasted (possibly because we had been eating trail mix and dehydrated food for a week). This trip we made our way to The Main Place restaurant in Halfway before heading home. Their burgers tasted pretty good as well.
History.
Summit Point was first established as a fire detection site in the 1930s when a 20′ open platform tower was built on the north end of the ridge. Construction for a new tower began on the most southern end of the ridge in 1949 and wasn’t completed until 1951. This move was noted due to constant fog obstructing the view from the northern end. The lookout built was a 20′ treated timber tower with a 14’x14′ L-4 cab. It is still actively staffed every season.
The Labor Day weekend has become historically smoke filled over the past few years where planning ahead doesn’t bode well for the eager traveler. It has started to feel like any place we decide on as our final destination will ultimately catch on fire or be in the direct line of smoke by the time the holiday arrives. Our Plan A moves to Plan B moves to Plan C. This year we had to ditch all three of our potential plans due to smoke and fire closures. We’ve avoided most of Oregon’s wildfire season thus far by focusing on projects at home, but that hasn’t stopped it from coming nonetheless. Our current wildfires have been fairly mild in comparison to other states and years prior, but the smoke has been heavy. The source of said smoke has been completely dependent on which way the wind was blowing that day. As the week prior to Labor Day progressed, we searched for alternatives. The AirNow map has become our best friend when trying to plan around the air quality and smoke. But, as soon as we thought we had a Plan D set in place the weather started to shift. The forecast called for rain and thunderstorms across the majority of the state. We were now dodging poor weather conditions on top of the smoke and we had to ditch our plans once more.
This trip has been much anticipated since we have spent the majority of August, and even parts of July, scraping and painting around the trim of our house. Yes, it’s as fun as it sounds. We are currently on the do it yourself budget which is affordable and rewarding, but comes with the hefty cost of our personal time. I was able to escape my responsibilities for a weekend at the beginning of August (post), but Garnet hasn’t been out since our road trip (post). Needless to say we planned to be absolutely feral in the woods for 5-days of backpacking no matter where we ended up. We eventually settled on a Plan E the night before departure. Our final plan (so we thought) was to make a loop through the Eagle Cap Wilderness starting and ending in Cornucopia. We planned to make stop overs to the fire lookouts in the area at the Pine Ranger Station and Summit Point as well. The weather only called for a 20-30% chance of precipitation with potential for occasional thunderstorms and temperatures ranging from high 60s/low 40s.
We woke up Friday morning later than planned since we stayed up late the night prior prepping for our trip. We were further delayed as we realized we left our ranger maps, road atlas, and Garnet’s binoculars on the roof of the car after starting our drive. This added a trip back to our house retracing our route in hopes that they were not a complete loss. We were unsuccessful in finding any of the items as we pulled into our drive way to regroup. Once resituated we headed out towards I-205 again to connect to I-84. As we were pulling out of our neighborhood, I spotted them. Some kind stranger must have picked them up from the road and neatly set them on the street corner. This corner had been blocked from our view by a car on the drive back. We were thankful for this act of kindness and continued on our way. We think someone might have ran over the binoculars, but the optics were thankfully still intact. This delay set us back significantly though. We knew we wouldn’t have enough time to make the hike in to our original destination and would have to change our plans once again. As we made the drive east via I-84 towards Baker City, I proposed a modified route. Instead of starting in Cornucopia, we would start from the Summit Point trailhead and hit our intended destinations as an out and back. This would also allow us to car camp near the trailhead for an earlier start the next morning.
We continued on I-84 the majority of the drive until we reached the junction with HWY-86 towards Halfway. We decided it made the most sense to make a pit stop at the Pine Ranger Station before heading into the forest. There is a fire lookout located there and it is easily accessible if you are in the area. From HWY-86, we turned right onto Sawmill Cutoff Lane. This is just before the turn off for Halfway and there is a sign for the Ranger Station near the junction. The Ranger Station is only a short distance down this road off to the right. It is near the junction with Pine Town Lane, but it should be obvious and signed. We pulled into the visitor parking area just before 5pm. The Ranger Station was already closed for the day, but you can see the tower from there. We walked to the right of the visitor center following the road to the back quarters. There was an authorized personnel only sign that we decided to ignore. I think this is more of a grey area and intended for visitor vehicles since Ranger Stations are open to the public. There were even a few people out, but no one said anything to us as we walked back to take pictures of the fire lookout. We didn’t stay long enough to be a naissance or a concern to those onsite anyway. I’m sure if the Ranger Station had been open and you wanted to ask to see it they would happily agree.
History.
There is little information available on this fire lookout. It is located on the grounds of the Pine Ranger Station, also known as the Pine Field Office, just 2 miles southeast of Halfway. It was built in 1938 as a 52′ treated timber tower with 7’x7′ cab. It is also referred to as the Halfway Lookout and is still used during emergencies. It is unclear when it was last used and if it was ever used for consistent fire detection. A Ranger onsite might know the story, if you stop in during visiting hours. There is now a fence around the tower to keep unwanted guests from climbing it.
We headed back to NF-24 from Tamarack Mountain (post) and turned right to continue through the forest. We stayed on NF-24 until we reached NF-180 off to the right. We decided to park here to wait out the heat of the day. Ant Hill was only a little bit farther up the road, but it was so hot that the air was thick with heat even in the shade. We ate lunch and killed time by napping in our camp chairs or reading until we could feel the day starting to cool down. We walked the remaining distance up NF-180 to the junction with the decommissioned road NF-182. You could easily drive to this junction as well, the road is in decent condition. There is no sign at the NF-182 junction to indicate the turn besides a “closed to all motorized equipment” sign and a post with rocks. It’ll be off to the right once the road starts to curve and opens up to a view. The NF-182 road is closed to motorized traffic and you will need to walk from here. Though there is no gate or berm to stop someone from driving up. We could see tire tracks leading up the road despite the sign. Obviously, don’t be those people. No one likes those kinds of people. The NF-182 road will wind you around until you reach the summit of Ant Hill. There are no views from the summit except for just below it on the road. From where we parked our car at the junction with NF-180 and NF-24, the Strava app calculated the road walk at 1.30 miles RT with 136′ elevation gain.
Day 9/9: We drove home without incident. This trip might not have gone as smoothly as we initially hoped, but we still successfully made it to all our destinations with only a few additional scrapes added to the car. Somewhere along the way I visited my 100th fire lookout as well. I can’t say for sure which one it was since it’s dependent on your definition of an official fire lookout. One could make arguments for or against some of the ones I have listed and for that reason I am not going to claim one specific lookout as my official 100th visited. We can celebrate once I reach my 100th visited in Oregon, but even that might come with a few asterisks in place.
History.
The first lookout structure was built on the summit in 1935. It was a pole timber tower between 16′ to 24′ with an L-4 cab. I’m unsure of the exact height. It is listed on the Former Fire Lookout Site register due to the tower being dismantled and removed in 1956. I personally would consider this an existing lookout site due to the 10′ open platform tower that still stands today. There is no information on when this structure was built or if it was utilized for fire detection. The only mention of it I could find was on the geocache site. It states this structure was built from recycled material of the previous lookout. It reminds me of the lookout structures utilized on Green Butte (post) and Craft Point (post).
We leisurely packed up our camp to move towards Tamarack and Ant Hill (post) for the day. We didn’t have to drive very far from where we were currently situated. Garnet had previously been to that area of the Umatilla NF during the 2017 solar eclipse and already had an idea of where we could camp. We followed NF-21 out of the forest until it turned into CR-847. This took us all the way out to HWY-207 where we turned left to head south. We didn’t have to stay on HWY-207 for very long before we took another left onto NF-24. There was a sign for Tamarack L.O. at the junction that stated it was only 9 miles away. This area seemed to be well signed and the road was made up of good gravel. We stayed on NF-24 until we reached another signed junction with NF-2407. This stated we only had 3 miles left to go to Tamarack L.O. as we turned right. Prior trip reports and some helpful information from other lookout enthusiasts we met told us the road would be good most of the way. After 2 miles the road turns into NF-040 and becomes rockier. We started up this section before deciding to abort and walk the remaining distance. Unfortunately, I was already in the rockiest section and the heat shield once again caught on something as I was backing down to the saddle. It was already hanging lower than normal from our mishap at the Mt. Ireland trailhead (post). Garnet had spent some time bending it back as best as he could for not having much more than some basic tools with us. This basically undid all the work he had done. It was even worse than before but we wouldn’t be able to touch it until it cooled down. I was annoyed at myself for not being more cautious and I was annoyed at the heat shield for causing more problems. We parked in the saddle between Tamarack and Little Tamarack to start our hike up the road. The last mile isn’t terrible, but it would have required some caution in a lower clearance vehicle.
Sign at junction along NF-24
Sign at NF-2407 junction
It didn’t take us long to reach the summit. It was only a 0.8 mile hike (1.66 RT) with 304′ of elevation gain from where we parked. The lookout tower on Tamarack is a tall Aermotor with a cabin at the base. It’s unique in that the cabin is rented out for recreational use, while the tower is still staffed every season. This leaves the lookout attendant to provide their own means of housing. A bit backwards and greedy in my opinion. We learned from Chuck on Madison Butte (post) that this was due to it being managed by two separate agencies. The Forest Service no longer wanted to staff the fire lookout and moved it to the rental program to make some profit. The state felt it was a crucial lookout to keep staffed and started staffing it themselves. The Forest Service let the state use the tower, but decided to keep the cabin for rentals. It’s not surprising that two government agencies wouldn’t agree on something, but it is unfortunate to those staffing the lookout. I would also feel terrible as a renter at this location. I’m sure most are unaware of the situation or at least I hope that is the case. There were renters onsite during our visit, but the lookout attendant was gone for the day. We knew their name was Sarah from our conversation with Chuck. We were bummed we didn’t get to meet them, but I left a note in their visitor log. I was able to connect with them later via Instagram.
We climbed the tower to get a better view since there was not much to see from the base and no one was onsite to disturb. Garnet climbed all the way to the last landing while I stopped around the 5th landing. There was a custom camper, hammock, and veggie garden at the base of the tower as well. It looked like a nice set up despite the circumstances. We had never seen a lookout trying to grow fresh veggies before and I thought it was a neat touch. After taking in the view, we headed back to the car to deal with the heat shield. Garnet was able to bend it back to a better position, but we would have to address it again once we were back home. Driving a Civic through the forest always keeps things interesting. Our next stop for the day would be Ant Hill (post).
History.
Tamarack Mountain is named after the Western Larch, a tree that frequently grows under the drier conditions of the Blue and Wallowa Mountain ranges. I guess Tamarack is another common name used for larch trees of all varieties. The site was first established for fire detection with a crows nest platform on top of a tree. Most resources, including the Forest Service website, state this platform was built in 1925. But, Ron Kemnow’s collection of articles from withdrawal records, Morning Oregonian, Heppner Harold, and Heppner Gazette Times shows the site could have been used as early as 1908. In 1933, a 96′ steel Aermotor tower was built with a cabin for living quarters. The cabin accidentally burned down in 1966, but the original tower still stands today. Instead of rebuilding the cabin, the garage/utility shed was converted for the living quarters. It’s unclear when the Forest Service decided to stop staffing the fire lookout and add it to the rental program. The cabin is rentable to the public from May 15th to November 23rd. The lookout is currently actively staffed by the Oregon Department of Forestry every season, but I am unsure when they took this over. The Friends of Blue Mountain Lookouts, a volunteer run group, replaced the stairs in September 2021.
The Roaming Civic 