Lookout Mountain, Coolin, Idaho
Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god. Aristotle
Call me beasty. It was the first summer of Covid-19 and quarantines rearranging the world and what we thought of it and forcing most of us to decide what kind of people we were. It was also my first full year of being sick with what we now know as rare blood cancer. I was determined to not be weak, I was determined to chase my goals, and the world around me was collapsing while my body was creating its own war that I could not win.
Lookout Mountain. All to myself, all day long. It was a hard ass hike, obviously incredible. It was a much-needed time to remind myself that I am not only here to conquer trails, I am here to conquer myself, and the world.
2.4 miles to the peak. Over 1,700’eg, with 1,500 of that being the last mile. It’s work. And it’s worth it.
It is hike 37 in 100 Hikes in the Inland Northwest, described as providing “a magnificent view of Priest Lake, Upper Priest Lake, and a long swath of the Selkirk Mountains crest. The Forest Service designated the peak a fire observation point in 1921 and erected the first lookout house on the summit in 1929. After the first lookout was unstaffed for 30 years, a new tower was built by the Idaho Department of Lands in 1977.”
SAH ARCHIPEDIA https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/ID-01-021-0030From the Society of Architectural Historians: In the wake of the infamous forest fires in August 1910, which consumed over three million acres of virgin timber in the northern Idaho Panhandle and western Montana, the fledgling U.S. Forest Service (USFS) established a comprehensive system for fire detection and prevention using fire lookouts as the front line of defense. Over nine hundred lookouts were constructed throughout Idaho during a concerted effort by the USFS to place a pair of eyes on every major mountain top overlooking their vast holdings. Among the approximately 165 lookouts that remain in the state, the 1929 structure on Lookout Mountain in the North Idaho Panhandle’s Selkirk Range is a carefully restored relic of early forest service lookouts; the cupola-style structure represents the only remaining example of this early USFS design in Idaho. Directly beside it, a lookout built in 1977 from recycled portions of an abandoned forest service lookout, remains in active use. Together, they help tell the story of lookout development in the Intermountain West.
Fire lookout design, construction, and human habitation presented many challenges, given the need to locate the towers in remote areas in inhospitable environments at high elevations. Such is the case with the sequence of lookouts on Lookout Mountain. The steeply sided granite summit, which has served as a fire watch point since 1921, is accessed via a 3.5 mile hiking trail leading from a steeply ascending four-wheel drive road. The natural vantage point affords panoramic views of the Selkirk Range and forested mountains that form the Priest Lake basin and the corresponding western portion of the USFS’s Region One. By necessity, the earliest lookouts were constructed in co-opted tree snags or with materials gathered on site. The first shelter to house fire watchers on Lookout Mountain may have been a simple log cabin, though evidence of this early structure has not been confirmed. In 1929, the first permanent lookout was constructed as a “cupola style” cabin using pre-cut conventional lumber framing and lap siding; all construction materials were transported to the site by mule. The “fire-finder” lived in the cabin and regularly climbed into the cupola above the living quarters for observational purposes.
According to fire lookout preservationist Gary Weber, fire watch capacity at the Lookout Mountain site was enhanced in 1939 with the addition of a 50-foot-tall, heavy timber tower capped by a USFS “L-4” design lookout house. Clyde Fickes, supervising architect for Region 1 of the USFS, developed several lookout designs for Region 1, including the L-4. Among his designs, the L-4 lookout house was widely adopted by other USFS regions throughout the northwest between 1929 and 1953. The L-4, also known as the “Aladdin,” consisted of a 14 x 14– foot cabin framed with pre-cut dimensional lumber, windows on every elevation, and capped with a gable end or hipped roof. Wood shutters were mounted horizontally as overhangs to provide shade for the window wall during summer months and lowered to cover the windows and help seal the structure during the winter. The L-4 could be sited at ground level or raised on wooden towers up to 60 feet in height. Civilian Conservation Corps crews constructed the pack trail used by mule trains to deliver construction materials to the site and assisted with tower assembly. When the USFS closed Lookout Mountain as a fire watch site in 1947, the 1939 L-4 tower was abandoned. Due to harsh mountain weather conditions, and lack of maintenance, the tower collapsed circa 1965.
The Idaho Department of Lands re-opened Lookout Mountain as an active fire detection site in 1977 and erected a tower salvaged from another lookout site. The lower 25-foot section of the steel was relocated from Pack Saddle Mountain. The lookout house or “cab” was built on-site; the cab was modeled after the “R-6” design which was developed by the USFS Region 6 in the 1950s. The R-6 remains in common use and features a 15 x 15–foot wood frame cabin with a flat, overhanging roof to provide shade for the window wall surround. Idaho Department of Lands employee, Pam Aunan, has been the principal fire watch at Lookout Mountain since the early 1980s, packing in her own supplies each fire season and embracing a lifestyle of isolation, alpine serenity, and the periodic intensity that surrounds the discovery of a new smoke plume.
Lookout Mountain’s 1929 cupola-style lookout is sustained by its uniqueness; the simple, but exquisite, structure was listed on the National Historic Lookout Register after volunteers from the Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) carefully restored it between 1983 and 1992. Consistent with the earliest wooden towers throughout Idaho, natural elements have taken a toll, as evidenced by the total loss of the 1939 structure on Lookout Mountain. The 1977 steel lookout tower perseveres because it remains in active use. Among Idaho’s inventory, it represents one of approximately 50 structures that are regularly used for fire detection purposes. The future of remaining structures on Lookout Mountain, and others throughout Idaho, depends upon stewardship provided by volunteer groups such as the FFLA.
Lionhead Natural Water Slides is near the trailhead – you will drive by it. Plan your day well and begin it or end it by making a stop there. Another idea to increase the adventure of this excellent destination is to participate in the Priest Lake Multisports Smokechaser 30K: This trail race starts on the shores of Priest Lake, Idaho, and runs through sections of lush forest and alpine terrain to a historic fire lookout tower at 7200′ elevation. In the early days of wilderness firefighting, the Smokechasers were brave protectors of our forests who trekked into the wilderness, sometimes alone to put out fires or “smokes” started by lightning strikes. Before the modern period of spotting forest fires with aircraft and satellites, fires were reported from mountaintop lookout posts, ranger stations or guard stations around Priest Lake. Brave Smokechasers came from nearby blister rust camps and CCC camps. Before roads, helicopters and smoke jumpers were used for firefighting, the Smokechasers were taken by boat to a drop-off point or trailhead below the smoke. They then hiked to the fire, carrying a heavy fire pack that contained a Pulaski, shovel, water and 2-3 days rations, all wrapped in a canvas tarp, which also served as a bedroll to meet the challenge. Experience the wilderness trail of Priest Lake, Idaho, like the Smokechasers of days past- Race the Smokechaser and meet your challenge!
Maybe I will see you there!