{"id":407,"date":"2016-02-18T16:21:53","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T16:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/old.cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/?p=407"},"modified":"2020-10-13T20:28:42","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T20:28:42","slug":"back-to-clear-lake-butte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/2016\/02\/18\/back-to-clear-lake-butte\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to Clear Lake Butte"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Type: 41\u2032 tower with R-6 cabin<br \/>\nStatus: Staffed in summer, rental in winter<br \/>\nElevation: 4,458 feet<br \/>\nVisited: February 7-9, 2016<\/p>\n<p>In March 2014 my sister and I made our first lookout excursion together, <a href=\"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/2014\/03\/13\/return-to-clear-lake-butte\/\">staying at Clear Lake Butte<\/a> for one night. We had a great time, although we were socked in with no views. In March 2015 we <a title=\"Return to Fivemile Butte\" href=\"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/2015\/04\/01\/return-to-fivemile-butte\/\">stayed at the Fivemile Butte lookout<\/a> where we had clear skies and bare ground thanks to the super mild and dry winter.<\/p>\n<p>This year we decided to return to Clear Lake Butte. We parked at Skyline Sno Park, donned our packs (mine was 42 pounds!), and headed out. The snow was old and packed down and we didn&#8217;t even need our snowshoes. We strapped them to our packs and just walked in our boots. It took us two hours and 20 minutes to hike from the sno park up to the lookout. This is snowmobile country and we were passed by plenty of them\u00a0along the way, inhaling the exhaust fumes long after the machines had passed us. Yuck.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1657\/24914503991_9970443e1e_c.jpg\" alt=\"Snowmobilers\" width=\"800\" height=\"448\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When we arrived at the lookout it was nothing but clear blue skies above us.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1676\/24934624632_b460ddb1aa_c.jpg\" alt=\"Clear Lake Butte Lookout\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>we were greeted with jaw-dropping views of Mt. Hood and Clear Lake to the north.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1446\/24347897784_f2b025d8a7_c.jpg\" alt=\"Mt. Hood and Clear Lake\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And Mt. Jefferson to the south:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1565\/24610864429_05beb9cef1_c.jpg\" alt=\"Mt. Jefferson\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Timothy Lake was sprawled out below us to the west:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1441\/24952177826_fdd2cff11e_c.jpg\" alt=\"Timothy Lake\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We sat out on the catwalk, soaking up the sunshine. Gray jays paid us a visit, having clearly been fed by past visitors who didn&#8217;t know better.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1449\/25005145215_7576d27998_c.jpg\" alt=\"Gray jay\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1536\/25005143735_b199eebbc4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Gray jay\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Previous renters had created a snow cave:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1594\/25008038585_28fd334e9e_c.jpg\" alt=\"Inside the snow cave\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As the sun started to go down and it got chillier, we retreated back inside and enjoyed the views from there.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1641\/25005136295_1a0b720ab3_c.jpg\" alt=\"Framed mountain\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And then watched the sunset:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1536\/24712293650_b8f1c36cb9_c.jpg\" alt=\"Timothy Lake Sunset\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1444\/24889762892_5254782859_c.jpg\" alt=\"Mt. Hood alpenglow\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The stars that night were amazing.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1530\/24397406823_935d78a985_c.jpg\" alt=\"So many stars\" width=\"531\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1510\/24610951629_af15dbd40d_c.jpg\" alt=\"Starry skies\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We drank wine and whiskey, played games (discovered a new-to-us game called Farkel!), and then turned in for the night.<\/p>\n<p>We woke to brilliant clear skies:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1541\/24959393301_13a714eb2c_c.jpg\" alt=\"Cozy bed\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1563\/24757122210_dc571342bb_c.jpg\" alt=\"Lookout sunrise\" width=\"800\" height=\"357\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1475\/24959114321_4ae1d3940b_c.jpg\" alt=\"Mt. Hood\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Panorama to the west:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1466\/25109575875_a70fbfd0a4_c.jpg\" alt=\"West panorama\" width=\"800\" height=\"289\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To the north:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1470\/24478905594_02785b2e53_c.jpg\" alt=\"North panorama\" width=\"800\" height=\"347\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To the east and south:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1712\/24813955670_5e11e5f7e4_c.jpg\" alt=\"East panorama\" width=\"800\" height=\"274\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Deb chopped some wood:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1574\/24685072559_0c468d5994_c.jpg\" alt=\"Wood chopper\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And hauled it up the tower via the handy pulley:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1640\/24813916090_981bef0f4b_c.jpg\" alt=\"Pulley\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Collecting snow, melting it, then filtering it was a constant activity:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1618\/24422063654_e84b2a41fb_c.jpg\" alt=\"Snow melting\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the afternoon we went out for a little trek. Short of hiking all the way back down the mountain, there aren&#8217;t many places to go. We explored down a spur road.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1598\/24757108650_bc1e3c6eab_c.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy road\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1617\/24422055824_e8ea6ed5a6_c.jpg\" alt=\"Mountain view\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Then we dropped down and went cross-country to meet up with another spur. Shouldn&#8217;t have left our snowshoes back at the lookout!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1504\/24934742322_1ed817bd20_c.jpg\" alt=\"Snow walk\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sunshine filtering through the trees:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1576\/24685057479_3f970531f0_c.jpg\" alt=\"Tree shadows\" width=\"531\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Back at the lookout we napped, snacked, and relaxed. What a rough life! Sunset that night:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1590\/24393644474_3eb5a66fed_c.jpg\" alt=\"On top of the world\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once again, the stars were amazing. This is looking south. Because it&#8217;s a wide-angle lens Mt. Jefferson is just a little bump in the center. I think the city glow on the left is from Bend and the glow on the right is from Salem.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1633\/24757769160_1cea8b8d22_c.jpg\" alt=\"Milky Way\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The lookout and the stars.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1585\/24483390923_10bbf11b8d_c.jpg\" alt=\"Stars and the lookout\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sunrise the next morning was lovely, thanks to a layer of clouds that had settled into the valleys below us.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1692\/24702110029_b9b3e036c9_c.jpg\" alt=\"Clouds\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1452\/24774146220_5207161c97_c.jpg\" alt=\"Sunrise at the lookout\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1510\/24423383854_876d798346_c.jpg\" alt=\"Mt. Jefferson\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I always enjoy reading past logbook entries while I drink my morning tea.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1482\/24757120400_72812378b0_c.jpg\" alt=\"Glorious morning\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Good times!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1486\/24478862784_5c11fea5ee_c.jpg\" alt=\"Fun times!\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After hiking back out to the sno park we weren&#8217;t ready to go home yet so we hung out at Timberline Lodge for the afternoon. We stayed for sunset, which was beautiful.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1552\/24478854894_6f9808e630_c.jpg\" alt=\"Timberline sunset\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1539\/24478856844_e709af60e4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Pink skies\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Looking south, that&#8217;s the Three Sisters and Mt. Jefferson. Clear Lake Butte is the second bump in the foreground.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1693\/24991347882_d472892245_c.jpg\" alt=\"Timberline Lodge view\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We had a great time! We were incredibly lucky to have such beautiful weather.<\/p>\n<p>If you go:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s a 3.5 mile trek from the Skyline Sno Park to the lookout. If it&#8217;s early in the season or late in the season there might be no snow in which case you can drive all the way up.<\/li>\n<li>Expect plenty of visits from snowmobilers on weekends. If you don&#8217;t want them to bother you, just close and latch the catwalk door.<\/li>\n<li>Two years ago the lock was on the door instead of the catwalk hatch. This time the latch on the door was completely gone and there was just a combination lock on the hatch.<\/li>\n<li>This lookout has a refrigerator, although it is quite\u00a0noisy. Also, it stopped working about halfway through our visit, so we had to put our veggies outside in the shade.<\/li>\n<li>The Forest Service keeps the woodshed stocked with lots of seasoned firewood. The tower has a pulley system for getting the wood up to the top.<\/li>\n<li>Unlike some lookout locations there are no good ways to go do brief explorations\u00a0on foot during your visit.\u00a0You pretty much have to hike two miles down the mountain (the way you came up) and then hike around to Clear Lake or Little Crater Lake or wherever.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Type: 41\u2032 tower with R-6 cabin Status: Staffed in summer, rental in winter Elevation: 4,458 feet Visited: February 7-9, 2016<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/2016\/02\/18\/back-to-clear-lake-butte\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Back to Clear Lake Butte<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mt-hood-national-forest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":823,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions\/823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}