Type: 86′ steel Aermotor tower Status: Abandoned Elevation: 5,546′ Visited: May 31, 2020 The road up to Trout Creek Butte is in good shape and passable by any vehicle. Much of the summit burned in the 2017 Milli Fire: However,…
Fall at Gold Butte
Friday, September 13 – Sunday, September 15, 2019 Note: for tips on staying at Gold Butte see my 2016 post. Greg and I returned to the Gold Butte for the fourth time this fall. After a wet hike to Phantom…
Black Butte Cupola Being Restored
Volunteers with Friends of the Metolius have been working with the Forest Service to restore the old 1923 D6 cupola on Black Butte in the Deschutes National Forest. When I hiked up there in 2016 it was looking a bit…
Return to Indian Ridge
Type: 20′ R-6 tower Status: Rental Elevation: 5,405 feet Visited: August 31 – September 2,2016 After years of trying to reserve the Indian Ridge Lookout in the Willamette National Forest I finally managed to get a reservation, and for Labor Day…
Dutchman Peak
Type: D-6 cupola cabin Status: Used in emergencies Elevation: 7,418′ Visited: July 5, 2019 While in the Siskiyou Crest area we headed to Dutchman Peak (often mistakenly referred to as Dutchman’s Peak). We were able to drive up Road 800…
Squaw Peak
Type: L-4 ground cabin Status: Rental Elevation: 4,984′ Visited: July 3-7, 2019 Back when I was researching my book in 2015 I discovered that the lookout on Squaw Peak in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest had been added to Recreation.gov,…
Fivemile Butte Again
January 13-15, 2019 For our annual sisters winter trek this year, Deb and I reserved Fivemile Butte Lookout in the Mt. Hood National Forest. It was our third stay there. On Sunday we headed to The Dalles, down to Dufur,…
Gold Butte in the Clouds
Greg and I stayed at Gold Butte Lookout in September 2013 and again in July 2016. We had reservations for early October 2017, but on September 6 I got an email telling me that all reservations for the remainder of…
Table Rock
Type: L-4 ground cabin Status: Staffed Elevation: 7,815 Visited: May 27, 2018 After a hike in the nearby Bullrun Rock Wilderness Greg and I visited the Table Rock lookout. It was built in 1937 and is staffed in the summer:…
Sugarloaf Mountain
Type: 32′ L4 tower Status: Staffed Elevation: 6,128′ Visited: May 29, 2018 From Bald Butte it was a beautiful drive north on Road 47, and then we turned off to head up Sugarloaf Mountain. There’s a gate about 0.6 miles…