A trip report from a 3 day solo backpack of the Devil's Dome loop in the Pasayten. Devilishly steep? Absolutely, but full of heavenly ridgetop camps, North Cascades vistas, and surprising solitude.
A trip report from a few days of fall fire lookout bagging in the beautiful Okanogan County, including a visit to one of my favorite Washington State fire lookouts.
It's not every day a visit to a fire lookout could be considered subject matter for a horror movie, but thanks to an abandoned hearse at the summit, Lookout Point earned a spot on my top 20 fire lookout adventures simply because it was so weird and creepy!
Over the Memorial Day holiday I had an unplanned summit of Muckamuck Mountain, the site of a former D-6 cupola lookout. I also had a chance encounter with a fan club of sorts in the middle of nowhere!
A beautiful hike to an old lookout site above Bridge Creek near Twisp. Not much history is known about this one.
Doe Mountain in the Okanogan Range is a former fire lookout site that makes for a sublime ridge line cross country outing. Neighboring Ike Mountain is an easy bonus.
A wonderful ridgeline traverse to McClure Mountain, not only a prominent high point in Twisp but also a former fire lookout location.
A week spent with volunteers painting Lookout Mountain in Twisp, swapping stories, and remembering the beautiful history of fire lookouts.
A return visit to First Butte to check on the condition of the lookout and see the rapid deterioration of the once photogenic ground house.
Tales of surviving a remote hike in near triple digit temps and finally checking off a summit that has evaded me for four years!
The Blue Mountains of southeast Washington span 4,000 square miles of land and contain open ridges, big mesas, deep canyons, natural springs, loads of wildlife and surprising solitude. This wilderness is one of Washington’s best surprises!
A day spent at the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center working on the Badger Mountain fire lookout and learning valuable skills in the art of lookout restoration, especially window glazing!