{"id":640,"date":"2019-07-15T00:24:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T00:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/?p=640"},"modified":"2025-06-22T15:03:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T22:03:48","slug":"squaw-peak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/2019\/07\/15\/squaw-peak\/","title":{"rendered":"Acorn Woman Peak (Squaw Peak)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Type: L-4 ground cabin
\nStatus: Rental
\nElevation: 4,984′
\nVisited: July 3-7, 2019<\/p>\n

NOTE: Three years after our stay here, Squaw Peak was renamed to Acorn Woman Peak in 2022. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a>, but that it wasn’t open for reservations yet. I learned that the lookout required some work before it was ready to rent, including a new roof. The Sand Mountain Society worked on that project, which you can read about here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In early March I thought “I wonder if that place is ready to rent yet” and logged on to Recreation.Gov. They must have flipped the switch pretty recently, because only a handful of dates had been booked. Miraculously, the 4th of July weekend was available, so I reserved it.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, July 3 we got off to a rough start. There were several reasons for this but the biggest was that while taking a wildflower detour over to the Detroit area on our way south, we got a flat tire, which we discovered when we stopped for a late lunch in Salem. We pumped it up with the portable air compressor so we could get to Les Schwab:<\/p>\n

\"Flat<\/p>\n

Turns out the tire had been punctured by a big ol’ rock and it was not repairable, so we had to buy four new tires (one of the big downsides of AWD):<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With many hours of driving still ahead of us, we left Salem at 4:15 and started driving south. It was dark when finally arrived at the Squaw Peak gate:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

After a 10pm dinner we fell into bed and I’m happy to say that the rest of our trip went smoothly and we very much enjoyed our stay at Squaw Peak.<\/p>\n

The lookout doesn’t have any furniture or amenities, but is in pretty good shape:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

This is the first lookout I’ve rented where the fire finder is still in place and hasn’t been removed:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

There is a binder with a logbook and other information inside, to which we added some hiking and history info that we had brought:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

There is a Remote Automatic Weather Station (RAWS) up here. It’s a bit of an eyesore, but you can see its weather data online<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

Since there are no beds we brought our camping cots, and those worked great. There is no wood stove or other heating source, but it never got cold enough at night that we would have needed it anyway:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

The loo needs a coat of paint but is in otherwise good shape:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

We found the ancient rusting bed frame behind the outhouse:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

The views were great:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

Baldy Peak:<\/p>\n

\"Baldy<\/p>\n

Dutchman Peak to the east:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

Panorama to the north:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

To the west:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

To the south:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

To the east:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

There were quite a few lizards darting around. They were really fun to watch!<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Lizards\"
\nPhoto by Greg Lief<\/em><\/p>\n

There was also an elusive hummingbird we caught sight of a few times. On our final morning I got video of it with the Cascade lily and here is a still from that video:<\/p>\n

\"hummingbird\"<\/p>\n

We did food prep inside:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

But cooked outside on our Coleman camp stove that we set up on our handy portable camping table:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

It was so pleasant outside in the mornings and evenings (no bugs!) that we ate out on the deck:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

Most of the wildflowers up here were done, but a few still lingered:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

Sunrise is EARLY this time of year so we never got up for it, but this was post-sunrise on our last day:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

We had some pretty nice sunsets:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

On the last night there was this cool ray effect in the clouds after the sun disappeared:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

The evenings are long this time of year and the light lingers for a long time:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

Our timing was lucky because it coincided with a new moon. That, combined with minimal light pollution, made for excellent stargazing conditions:<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

\"Squaw<\/p>\n

We really loved staying here! It was incredibly quiet and even air traffic was almost non-existent.\u00a0 During our stay we visited Big Red Mountain<\/a> and Observation Peak<\/a>, both of which were about an hour’s drive to the east. We also hiked part of the Little Grayback Trail<\/a>, which is very close by.<\/p>\n

If we ever stay here again I’d like to hike to Baldy Peak<\/a> and its neighbor, Mule Mountain, as well as drive over to the other side of Applegate Lake and visit Whisky Peak<\/a>. It would be fun to visit the Bigfoot Trap<\/a> too.<\/p>\n

If you go:<\/p>\n