Type: 14×14′ Cabin
Status: No longer staffed
Elevation: 5,149
Visited: July 5, 2020
The Little Grayback Lookout is east of Cave Junction and we decided to see if we could get there before heading home from our stay at Bolan Mountain. We had very little information about the state of the road or the lookout since I could find nothing recent online, and even the geocache up there hadn’t been logged in nine years.
We drove east of Cave Junction on Highway 46 for about ten miles, then turned onto Little Grayback Road, then turned onto gravel road BLM Road 39-7-24. It was 5.5 miles of rough road. It’s not the worst lookout road we’ve ever been, and it wasn’t even the kind of road that required high clearance, but it was pretty rocky and even in our Outback we had to take it slow.
The USGS topo map doesn’t show the last bit of road to the summit. After 5.5 miles we reached a gate that was partially open. We knew the last half-mile beyond this gate was really steep so we decided to park and walk the rest of the way.
Although it doesn’t look like it in this photo, it was indeed very steep:
The lookout is no longer staffed and is all boarded up:
A sign warns about the area being under surveillance and indeed we saw multiple cameras that are monitored remotely:
The actual summit of Little Grayback Peak (5,438′) is just east of here:
The old outhouse:
Looking south:
Looking southwest:
Looking northwest:
Looking north:
Considering that the gate was open and considering that lookouts are prime targets for nefarious activities, I was surprised at the total lack of vandalism here, even with the surveillance cameras.
More information
Forest Lookouts
Rex’s Forest Fire Lookout Page
National Historic Lookout Register
Peakbagger
Geocache
History
In 1980 a 14×14 ground cabin was constructed on a high point west of Little Grayback Peak, with construction finishing up in 1981. Much of the material came from the lookout on Waldo Hill (south of Cave Junction, and not to be confused with Waldo Mountain east of Eugene).
The lookout is no longer staffed and hosts cameras that are part of the EVS Fire Watch system.