Travel

Pickett Butte L.O.

Oregon Lookouts

Location.

Umpqua National Forest

Status.

Rental program; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

4 hours

Date visited.

May 10th-12th, 2024

Elevation.

3,292′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 354; OR 40

Trip Report.

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.

More information.

Recreation.gov

US Forest Service

Lookout Towers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Oregon Lookouts

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.

Heybrook L.O. (Revisited)

Washington Lookouts

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!

Scalplock Mountain L.O.

Montana Lookouts

Location.

Glacier National Park

Status.

Active; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

12 hours

Date visited.

September 30, 2023

Elevation.

6,919′

National Historic Lookout Regiser.

US 39; MT 7

Trip Report.

It was the final day of our trip before we had to make the long drive back to Oregon. The fall weather the forecast had been threatening had finally arrived and the Going-to-Sun road was officially closed for the season. We had one more fire lookout on our list to visit in the park and we weren’t going to let a little bad weather stop us. Although this hike and lookout are within the park boundaries, you have to exit the park to get there. We left our camp towards West Glacier and turned left onto HWY-2 to head farther east toward grey wet skies. The trailhead is located near the most southern tip of the park boundary behind the Walton Ranger station. It is signed and right off the highway on the lefthand side if you’re coming from West Glacier. We reached the trailhead just before 9:30AM and I was a little uneasy as we pulled into another empty parking lot. It wasn’t all too surprising given the conditions, but even still you could tell this trail saw less use than others. There were five spots with picnic tables that I assume are mostly for day use and an additional area for back country parking that could fit 3-4 cars. Our goal was Scalplock Mountain, but this was also a starting point for many different interconnecting trails into the back country.

It wasn’t raining when we started our hike, but all the plants were damp from the previous night. This quickly saturated our pants as we brushed through the denser areas. The hike starts along the Boundary Trail following the Middle Fork of the Flathead River and quickly turns into the forest to cross Ole Creek on a suspension bridge. Please only cross one hiker at a time as the sign states. After the crossing, the trail made a sharp turn to gain a bit of a hill which brought us to an open view. The low hanging clouds were lifting slightly, but we figured we would be hiking up to reach them soon enough. There was a light dusting of snow on top of the next ridge over. We decided not to consult our map to confirm if we’d be going that high. A little over one mile from the trailhead, we reached our first junction with the Ole Creek Trail. We turned left to stay on the Boundary Trail for another half of a mile to the next junction. The official Scalplock trail forked to the right here. This area seemed to be well signed and it was easy to stay on track. Once we left the Boundary Trail the real ascent began. The majority of the elevation gain was concentrated within the next 3-1/2 miles to the summit.

The water collected from the brush had completely soaked through my pants and was starting to seep into my shoes and socks. My rain jacket was able to keep the top half of me dry but the water made each step a little heavier. It was hard to tell if it was actually raining on us as the water dripped from trees above and fog rolled around us. Occasionally we’d get a break in clouds that offered views of the valley below. There are around 19 switchbacks to reach the summit from the Boundary Trail. There was only one spot that had some blow down. As we grew closer to the summit there were even a couple of sections that felt like false summits. We got our answer on if there would be snow within the last half mile as we crested an open portion of the ridge. Spoiler: there was snow. Garnet had hiked ahead at this point because I wanted to take more breaks than he needed. There was a bit more than a dusting on the protected slopes of the trail as it continued to gain elevation. This quickly turned our damp clothes painfully cold. It wasn’t too much farther to the lookout after I reached the snow line. We attempted to have our lunch on the summit but the combination of damp clothes, wind, and snow starting to fall kept our time short. I kept myself moving and stayed long enough to take a few pictures and finish my sandwich before heading back down. I didn’t expect much of a view but it was still disappointing there wasn’t a small break. Looking at other pictures online the summit offers great views of Mount Saint Nicolas and Mount Jackson to the north. Unfortunately, you can’t always wait around for the perfect weather to visit these places. I mean technically you can wait all you want (don’t let me stop you). But we’ve personally found waiting can be a matter of a fire lookout being there or not. It’s always a race against time as wildfires and age continue to claim them.

The hike down was fairly uneventful as rain settled in and we didn’t see anyone the entire hike. I thought this would have been a good place to see a bear, but we didn’t encounter much wildlife at all. It was very cold and wet by the time we reached the car. I decided to change at the trailhead to help myself warm up. We stopped to get warm food and drinks at the Glacier Highland Restaurant before returning to camp. Strava tracked this hike at 9.86 miles with 3,271′ of elevation gain.

History.

Scalplock Mountain is the southern most standing fire lookout within Glacier National Park and one of the four remaining that are still actively staffed in the summer. Though with budget cuts, staffing issues, and a push to move to camera surveillance it’s unclear how long this will remain to be true. It was built in 1931 as a 14’x14′ cab with 10′ enclosed tower and overhanging roof, a style favored by the NPS. The term Scalplock refers to a long lock of hair remaining on a shaved head worn by certain Native American warriors. According to Glacier Administrative History, the mountain received it’s name after a small tuft of trees remained on the summit after a fire burned through the area resembling a Native American’s scalplock. It was last refurbished in 1999 but appears to receive basic maintenance for upkeep. It is one of the nine fire lookouts that remain standing within the National Park.

Swiftcurrent Mountain L.O.

Montana Lookouts

Location.

Glacier National Park

Status.

Active; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

12-1/2 hours

Date visited.

September 25, 2023

Elevation.

8,436′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 40; MT 8

Trip Report.

Monday was forecasted to be our nicest day of the week, so we allotted this for our hardest and highest elevation hike in the park. The end goal of the day was to reach Swiftcurrent lookout. No matter which way we sliced it the ascent was going to be difficult. You have three options when picking your starting point; the Loop, Logan Pass, or Many Glacier. The shortest option starts from the Loop trailhead, but requires the most elevation gain. This route is estimated around 12.5 miles RT with 4,200′ of elevation gain. If you start from Logan Pass instead, you are rewarded with the least amount of elevation gain but will have the most amount of mileage. This is estimated around 19 miles RT with only a little over 2,000′ of elevation gain out and back. During the peak season, you could shave off 3 miles by ending at the Loop trailhead and taking the shuttle back to Logan Pass. We unfortunately did not have the option for a shuttle during our visit. Your middle of the road option would be to start from Many Glacier. The route is estimated around 15 miles RT with 3,000′ of elevation gain. We immediately eliminated the Many Glacier route due to the location being on the Eastern side of the park and adding too much drive time. I debated starting us from Logan Pass since I can handle more mileage better than I can steep elevation, but 19 miles felt a bit out of reach for both of us. The only route that seemed obtainable during our visit was the one starting from the Loop. I wasn’t confident I would make it, but I wanted to at least give it a shot.

We tried to give ourselves as early of a start as possible and were at the parking lot by 9AM. This trailhead is easy to locate as a main pull off from the Going-to-the-Sun road on the western side of the park. It’s situated on a tight hairpin turn with parking above and below the corner. Make sure to be careful when crossing the road from the parking lot to the start of the trail, it is a blind corner and people take it faster than they should. The trailhead is fairly small since most visitors choose this as an ending point instead of a starting point. It sees most of its use during the summer when the shuttles are running and visitors are completing their hike of the highline trail. I didn’t expect to see as many people as you would in the summer, but I was surprised on how quiet it was for us. It seemed most cars were only parked for the roadside view point. We only saw a handful of people on the trail to and from the Granite Park Chalet. The amount of people around the chalet was a different story.

The trail starts out by undulating along a gradual slope for the first mile. The elevation starts to pick up gain around the first switch back. We had a decent view into the drainage below due to the area being burned over. This opened up the view to not only see Swiftcurrent throughout parts of the hike, but Heaven’s Peak for most of it as well. At first glance you might not notice the fire lookout on the edge of the ridge due to its stone structure blending with the surroundings. But, once we knew where to look it felt like the always watchful eye of Sauron (if you know, you know lol). It can be seen from a lot of hikes within the heart of the park if you know where to look. Despite its ever visual presence, the route to Heaven’s Peak has long since been abandoned. Although interesting this wasn’t on our agenda for the trip, so we turned our focus back towards Swiftcurrent. It wasn’t until after the second switchback that I started to feel a dull ache in my hip. I was already moving slow and knew I should have done more conditioning for this trip. I tried to convince my partner that he should hike on ahead, but he wasn’t willing to give up on me making it to the summit. It’s possible I was just too deep in my head about this one, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it and had that feeling from the start. I even had that feeling the day before, if I’m being honest. I started to feel bad that I was slowing my partner down and I didn’t want him to miss out on something I knew he’d have no problem completing otherwise. We had a direct view of Swiftcurrent once the trail started to turn away from the valley and into a more forested part of the slope. It looked deceivingly close from the vantage point. We hiked on with more determination, but seemingly not getting any closer. We knew we were finally close to the chalet when we reached the trail junction that lead to the backcountry campsites. We briefly debated whether we should check it out now or later, but I was hungry and tired and wanted to make it to the Chalet for lunch. We continued right at the fork for another 1/2 mile to the Chalet. It was just after 12PM and we had hiked roughly 4 miles with 2,600′ of elevation gain to get here. We had only seen three pairs of hikers on trail from the trailhead and there was only one couple sitting at a picnic table enjoying the view when we arrived. We decided on a table in the shade to have our lunch and figured the quiet was due to the lack of shuttles running.

It would have been novel to see the Chalet when it was open for the season and be able to buy convenience store snacks in the backcountry. I day dreamt about the combination I would have bought while we ate what we brought with us. I also considered how much easier it would have been to make it to Swiftcurrent if we were staying the night at the Chalet or even the backcountry campground. From the Chalet, it is roughly an additional 2 miles (4 miles RT) with 1,650′ of elevation gain and 40 switchbacks (yes, someone else counted them) to reach the lookout. I decided to seal my fate and hang back at the Chalet while Garnet made his summit attempt. If I ever get a chance to make another attempt, I would choose to break it up with a night at the campground. It took him around 3 hours round trip to make it there and back. I had a bit of service at the Chalet and was able to download an e-book from my library to read while I waited. The amount of people that were at the Chalet ebbed and flowed throughout the day ranging from only a handful to large loud groups. Most had hiked from Logan Pass and didn’t stay long since they still had to make the trek back. I had since moved myself to another picnic table facing the view in the sun after Garnet had departed. It was cold and windy in the shade after I had cooled down from our ascent. I was just trying to stay warm and entertained while I waited, but to the on lookers it appeared I was just another kid engulfed in my phone not appreciating the view. One might argue I’m projecting, but someone felt the need to make a comment close and loud enough so I would hear them. Little did they know I had been there for 2 hours already. It rubbed me the wrong way, plus the book I was reading wasn’t that engaging, so I decided to stew on it for the remaining hour instead. It made me regret not bringing the extra weight of my book up with me, no one would have said anything if I had my nose in a physical book. Eventually, the flow of people dwindled and the Chalet was eerily quiet. I figured he must be getting close and decided to stroll around the grounds. My intrusive thoughts decided to take hold at this point. What if he already came back and didn’t find me so he continued back to the car? What if he’s hurt? Does it make more sense to start hiking back to the car without him before it gets dark? I picked a different bench to sit on with these thoughts for a while that had a plain view of the trail junction. There was only a late afternoon pair of hikers that came while I was sitting here and then a solo hiker that was very excited to have made it. He said something about his time that it took to get there from Logan Pass and it sounded quick for the mileage. I took a few pictures for him to help him commemorate. He wondered off toward the Chalet and I was finally able to see Garnet headed down the trail. He looked tired, sweaty, and happy. All the signs of a successful summit.

Garnet’s Pictures from the Summit

Our reunion was brief as we needed to continue our hike if we wanted to make it back to the car before dark. On our descent we decided to quickly stop over at the backcountry campground. We figured we wouldn’t be back for a while and that we might as well see it while we were here. There was also a slight morbid fascination with The Night of the Grizzlies story that motivated our visit. It was a simple backcountry campground with about 4 spots to choose from and a designated cooking/food area. We continued our hike down with little to note besides stopping to check out a couple birds (bohemian waxwings?) and leap frogging with another pair of hikers to the parking lot. The sun was starting to set by the time we reached the car and it was almost completely set by the time we made it back to camp. It was a whole day affair. In total, I tracked our hike at 8.86 miles RT with 2,631′ of elevation gain (Garnet obviously hiked more to reach Swiftcurrent but doesn’t use a tracker).

History.

Built in 1936 by the CCC, Swiftcurrent is one of the few remaining fire lookouts staffed within the Glacier National Park. It offers a unique design mimicking a Swiss Chalet similar to the same design elements applied to the Many Glacier Hotel. The two-story 14’x14′ timber cab with gabled roof sits atop a 10′ natural stone base. It offers the highest point accessible via trial within the park. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Apgar L.O.

Montana Lookouts

Location.

Glacier National Park

Status.

Emergency; Currently standing

Estimated drive time from Portland, OR.

11 hours

Date visited.

September 24, 2023

Elevation.

5,236′

National Historic Lookout Register.

US 33; MT 1

Trip Report.

My partner and I usually like to plan 2 separate week long trips during the year. These are sometimes combined to make a longer 2-week trip, but those are usually allotted for above and beyond destinations we both agree upon. To keep things fair, we each get to plan what we do during one of the weeks. Garnet’s decision for 2023 was another lookout road trip around Oregon (post). My destination of choice took us a bit farther to break ground in a new state and National Park, or new to me at least. I can’t explain what draws one destination or another to the top of my list, but Montana and Glacier National Park were calling my name this year. We decided to gamble on a late season arrival to help mitigate the crowds. It is arguably our favorite time to travel. But, you always run the risk of early season snow, late season fires, or rain for 9-days straight. It’s always good to have some sort of back up plan incase of said conditions. Once the forecast was in reach, it wasn’t looking promising with rain and snow predicted for higher elevations most of the week. I’m not sure why, but I couldn’t bring myself to move on or even think about a potential plan B. the weather be damned I wanted to go to Montana.

I won’t bore you with the details of our route from Portland to West Glacier, but we were roughly on the road for 11 hours straight Saturday. We made minimal stops with breaks to stretch our legs and refuel the car. Keep in mind you do lose an hour of your day when traveling from Pacific to Mountain time. We left early enough to watch the sunrise from our vehicle and arrive in Glacier NP late afternoon before sunset. Glacier offers many different types of campgrounds to choose from throughout the park depending on where you want to be located and what time of year you are visiting. A few of the campgrounds were already closed for the winter season and a few more would be closing during our stay. I decided on the Apgar Campground given its year round availability and proximity to our intended destinations. I didn’t have to fight for my life on Recreation.gov to get a reservation at the 6-month opening either (something you might have to do during the peak season). I did delay my booking a bit too long though (I got too comfortable) and missed out on having the same camp spot for the entire trip. Luckily, I noticed the dwindling options before it was out of hand and we only had a different camp spot for our first night. There are some things to keep in mind if you decide to visit that might differ from our experiences. For example, the Going-to-the-Sun road was being repaved along Lake McDonald during our visit. This added wait time and a bumpy gravel portion to enter the park. Most of the amenities such as shuttles, lodges, chalets, and higher elevation visitor centers were already closed for the season. The Going-to-the-Sun road closed for the season mid-way through our trip. Access to the Bowman and Kintla areas were closed due to road construction. We were visiting outside the needed day-use vehicle registration period. These were all things we were aware of and prepared for during our stay. It’s just a reminder that I can’t stress enough – it is always important to do your own due diligence before visiting a National Park.

Our first full day in the park, Sunday, was more of what I would like to consider an introductory day. The first hike I had planned was the easiest of our fire lookout hikes and would help set the tone for the rest of the week. It was still located close enough to camp for us to pack up and move spots. And if time allowed, I wanted to stop in at the Apgar visitor center. Getting to the Apgar Lookout trailhead can be a bit confusing since it’s not as well marked as other trailheads. The road is located between the west entrance kiosk and the Apgar visitor center before you turn onto the Going-to-the-Sun road. It’ll be off to your left with a sign for Apgar L.O. if you are just entering the park or off to your right if coming from the campground. Continue straight until the road bends. There will be a gravel road off to the left (this heads towards the Glacier Institute Field Camp) but you will want to stay on the main paved road that continues right. Shortly after bearing right there will be an open gravel area to the left with a skinny one lane gravel road – head for this road. If you continue straight you will enter private property. From this junction, it is roughly 2 miles to the trailhead. There was no signage that I could see to indicate we were on the right road during our visit. The road eventually leads you over an old wooden bridge to cross McDonald Creek. Once across the bridge, we followed the gravel road to where it dead ends. This road can be narrow and a little rough in some sections, but any standard clearance vehicle should be able to make it here with caution.

We reached the trailhead around 9:30AM with only three other cars parked in the lot (our car being the fourth). This is definitely one of the less popular trails within the park despite it being closest to the west entrance. I had a bit of anxiety starting this hike since we both had no real experience hiking in grizzly country. We had extensively read up on the recommended Bear Safety tips prior to this trip, but putting them to practice is a different story. The basics are to make noise, travel in groups, don’t run on trails, carry bear spray, be aware of your surroundings, and secure your food/garbage. We had bear spray strapped to the outside of both of our packs. An important step as this does not provide any defense if it’s tucked away within your backpack. But, we found the hardest for us was learning to make noise on the trail. This went against our norm and felt unnatural to call out occasionally. We found clapping our hands or my trekking poles was an easier alternative. I thought about acquiring a bear bell to help with this, but I found that REI does not carry them anymore and it is no longer recommended as an adequate tool for bear safety. I even read somewhere that bears can mistake the jingle as the sound of prey having the opposite effect. These are just words of caution since we saw plenty of unprepared visitors during our stay. I understand that most people have the mentality that this won’t ever happen to them and in most instances that will be true, but it only takes one chance encounter for things to escalate. This applies to most things when recreating outside though. If you are wondering why these precautions are in place then I’d recommend reading the true story of Night of the Grizzlies by Jack Olsen and how the park was managed prior to that.

The trail starts out fairly flat following the old road bed and climbing gradually towards the base of the mountain. The surrounding forest is brushy and dense due to fire damage accumulated from two major fire scars. The first was in 2003 when the Roberts Fire burned through 58,000 acres near Lake McDonald. That year was considered one of the most destructive fire seasons for Glacier, totaling 136,000 acres burned or around 13% of the park. The second was more recently in 2018 when the Howe Ridge Fire burned 14,522 acres through the existing scar. After about a mile you will reach the base of the mountain and start the real climb via three long switch backs to the summit. Make sure to carry enough water since the majority of this hike is exposed. We found it to be overly humid and hot even this late in the season. The next 2.5 miles are spent climbing around 1,700′ of elevation. You will know you are close once the trail flattens out to hike towards the eastern slope of the ridge. Situated just below the fire lookout is a pit toilet and hitching post for horses.

We only passed one trail runner and a group of four heading down while on our way to the summit. We had the lookout to ourselves briefly before another pair and a solo hiker joined us. We decided to eat our lunch just below the catwalk in the shade of the lookout. The views from the fire lookout and base are slowly becoming obstructed by the surrounding trees. We could still see out to a nice view of Lake McDonald and the Apgar village below. I briefly chatted with the other pair of hikers about Washington and our travel time/distance to Glacier as we were getting ready to start our hike down. They had noticed my WSU hat and mentioned they used to live in Seattle (but now resided in Pennsylvania if I remembered correctly). They had flown in and rented a car to get here, but still had a travel day just as long as us. Our consensus was that there is no quick way to get to Glacier NP and wished each other a good remainder of our respective trips. The hike back down was brutally hot and we passed a lot more people than we saw that morning, even a couple on horses. This was still nothing in comparison to the amount of people we would see on other trails in the park. The Strava app tracked our hike at 7.24 miles RT with 1,923′ of elevation gain.

I was happy to see we still had enough time to stop in at the visitor center before heading back to camp. Though I was disappointed to find they had no magnets or other paraphernalia that showcased their many fire lookouts. I still decided to get a magnet with Lake McDonald and we upgraded to a more detailed map of the park. We also decided to talk to the rangers onsite to see if they had any additional insight. Unfortunately the ranger we spoke with did not have the detailed information we were hoping for, but he did his best to answer our obscure questions about the fire lookouts in the park.

History.

The fire lookout and surrounding area are all named after Milo Apgar. He was among one of the first settlers to set up permanent residence along Lake McDonald in the early 1890s. Milo helped develop the area by building homes and cabins for tourists, which is now known as the Apgar Village within the park. Though I highly doubt Apgar was the first, he just happened to be one of the first of the white men. The original lookout structure on Apgar was completed in 1929. Ironically, the structure burned down only 2 weeks later during a forest fire. It was immediately replaced with an exact replica in the spring of 1930 and still stands today. This is a standard national park 2-story cab design that has a 10′ tower and 14’x14′ cab. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of nine remaining fire lookouts within Glacier National Park. Although this tower is no longer staffed during the season, it remains as a standing exhibit for visitors to enjoy.