This week my partner in crime and I stayed at Clear Lake Butte Lookout outside of Government Camp, Oregon. There are about 2000 active fire lookouts in the US. Of those, many can be rented in the off season when they aren't being used. Because of how unique they are and the amazing views they offer, booking is extremely hard. Dates become available six months ahead of time. These dates are almost immediately snatched up. I was lucky and found two days together, probably because of the poor timing. We stayed the 6-8 of January which were Wednesday and Thursday nights. That's right, after two weeks off for Christmas, I went back to work for two days before taking off again. My boss was remarkably not upset about it.The weather promised to be cold and blizzard while we were there. We rented snowshoes and packed our bags with extra camping gear, not sure what to expect. When we arrived at the parking area, the weather was pretty good, mostly clear and sunny. The lookout is about 4 miles in along roads maintained by snowcat for snowmobilers. The path in is well marked as long as you adhere to what the website reads and don't decide to follow directions Google Maps gives you. Google knows, right? Wrong. Google told us to turn right about a mile too soon. So we followed that road to the next turn enjoying the solitude and beautiful scenery. Google said to make a left. There was no left to be made. We walked forward and backward a thousand feet or so. Nothing. We took the Mike route and headed into the forest in a foot and a half of powder.
Using the GPS on my phone, which said we were on the right track, we followed directions until we clearly weren't going to find a road. Then instead of trying to maintain this route, we just aimed for the lookout. Somehow this worked out for us. We wandered through a couple of miles of deep, untouched snow. The huge evergreen trees were sagging under the weight of the snow on their branches. It was silent, beautiful and unique. Mike did most of the trail breaking up the side of the mountain. He's kind of amazing like that. By the time we found the lookout, the sun had just set. It had taken us about 3.25 hours to walk in.
The lookout station consisted of three buildings: the lookout itself, a wood shed, and an outhouse. The lookout is 40' tall and maybe 15 feet square. Inside are a kitchenette, a desk, a wood stove, drawers and a bed, with windows making up all the walls. The views were astounding! We could see Mount Hood majestically towering through the clouds, two beautiful alpine lakes, thousands of acres of trees and snow. Once Mike had the fire roaring, the building warmed up very fast and stayed as warm as we let it (which was a bit too warm the first night). There are games, puzzles, cards and magazines stocked in the tower. Solar panels power a single overhead bulb and a mini-fridge. I cooked smoked salmon chowder for dinner and we played Phase 10 before bed.We awoke in a cloud. The tower was completely socked in by fog.I made breakfast and packed a day bag while Mike shoveled the ice and snow from the stairs. (As an aside, I realize as I write this how very much we've fallen into traditional roles: I make food, Mike does the work. Hmmmm.... Really, I helped! I brought up firewood, shoveled the catwalk, and shouted encouragement. See? Helpful!) We saw two snowmobilers who stopped briefly outside. They were our only visitors. After yesterday's exertion, Mike thought it might be a good idea to recon our way out since he had to be back for work Friday afternoon. We walked right down to the road we started on following a perfectly groomed road all the way there. It would have saved us a ton of time, but would not have been nearly as special or beautiful. The day ended up being a typical Pacific Northwest mixture of fog, sunshine, clear skies, clouds, and snow flurries. It was warm enough that we snowshoed in t-shirts.
When we returned to the lookout, Mike chopped enough wood to ensure the next couple of guests would be well-stocked. We watched the sun set over Timothy Lake. The snow dusted trees glowed in the light. It was gorgeous! Seriously, look at the picture below!!!I made turkey and sweet potato chili for dinner. Before bed, we carefully navigated the icy steps to the ground and stargazed. Without light pollution, the sky was clear. We could see a billion stars and the dusting of the Milky Way. Mike let the fire die during the night so he could clean out the ashes in the morning. It was still around 60 when we awoke.
