On August 31, in response to a question on Facebook about wrapping the Bull of the Woods lookout, the Mt. Hood National Forest wrote “Due to the proximity of the fire, it’s not safe to have firefighters there for the…
Lookouts Burned in the Historic 2020 Wildfires
Starting on Monday, September 7, 2020 (Labor Day) Oregon experienced an historic wind event. Several previously-burning wildfires blew up and became enormous. Several new fires started. Millions of acres of forest burned, in addition to many homes and businesses. (Mark…
The difficulty of renting fire lookouts
A few weeks ago OregonLive posted this article: Fire lookouts are hot destinations, but face an uncertain future in the Pacific Northwest. (Today it appeared on the front page of the Oregonian.) Some snippets: “Booking a night in a fire…
Fairview Peak Needs Repairs
The Forest Service has had to close the Fairview Peak lookout. They discovered “structural deficiencies” during an inspection, so the popular lookout is not available to rent this summer. Here’s an article from the March 9 Cottage Grove Sentinel.
Evergreen Lookout Wedding
Well here’s a great story. Last September photographer Benj Haisch shot a wedding for Kelsie and Matt at the Evergreen Mountain Lookout in Washington. September can be beautiful in the Pacific Northwest, so it’s too bad they had such cloudy…
Lookout as Home
Here’s a great story about Dabney Tompkins and Alan Colley and the lookout they built. It was meant to be a weekend getaway, but they loved it so much they now live there full time. Lucky guys!
Osborne Panorama comparisons
Voice of America published an interesting article about a project to compare the present-day view from lookout sites with the view captured in the Osborne Panorama photos taken in the 1930s. “We can tell an amazing story with these pictures.…