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The Best Place To...:  A great place to go  |
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marybeth
outstepping
146 Posts
Marybeth
Washington
USA
146 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 27 2007 : 6:59:07 PM
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One summer a few years ago a friend and I went to a fire lookout for part of a summer. It was in Southern Oregon a way up in the mountains. We weren' actually part of a fire crew but all the instruments were there and we could be a help if we saw anything. You have to pack in most of your stuff and there is no water so the heaviest stuff was water. We were up so high we could see the ocean one way and look down on the Rogue River and the Illinois River (the one in Oregon not Illinois)on the other side. It was great. For real, the outhouse had the best view anywhere. When the wind blew the tower did too. One year it was so hot we had to sleep out on the cat walk and the next year around the same time it was windy and cold. Weather!! Anyway, it is a super thing to do and now I understand there are some towers that can be rented for a few days at a time. There is so much to do up high and isolated. Hiking, reading, relaxing, driving, pell mell, down the mountainside to the Rogue River. On and on I could go. You just have to do it for yourself.
The same friend and I one year went camping on the Chetco River out of Brookings Oregon. Us and a canoe, it was great fun. A beautiful area. Get out side and enjoy
Being outside is being |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Apr 09 2007 : 8:03:29 PM
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I love those fire look out stations. They always have such amazing views and usually just getting to them is at least half the fun!
Elizaray |
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vintagechica
outbound
24 Posts
Eren
Kenosha
Wisconsin
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - Apr 12 2007 : 3:02:23 PM
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Oh, that sounds wonderful~ I would love to get to Oregon someday.
http://www.vintagechica.typepad.com
"A sure way to avoid housework, live outdoors" |
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Mountain Girl
outrigged
237 Posts
JoAnn
Colville
WA
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - Apr 12 2007 : 3:31:22 PM
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| I love fire towers. Our small town has a wonderful museum and they have a fire tower. It was moved from Graves Mtn. to the museum. We called it Goldie's Tower. Goldie lived near the Graves Mtn firetower and when it was still operational she and her husband would visit the person who manned it and would bring cookies. When it was moved to the museum she volunteered at the firetower. She loved it--loved it so much that she did this until her 90's! They told her maybe she shouldn't climb the tower steps anymore. Got her so mad she threatened to quit. She was a tiny woman and had trouble lifting the hatch door to the tower with her arms so she'd bring a book, put it on her head and push the door open with her head! Her daughter now volunteered at the museum but she didn't do the fire tower--she was afraid of heights : ) There are just two of us who can take visitors up to the top of the tower unfortunately all the others are too elderly (I'm 60). I'd like to hear more about MJ's adventures as a back country ranger. When I went to the first Farm Fair I brought my book on fire towers and had her sign it with the tower she manned. JoAnn |
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Marci
outthinking
2 Posts
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - Dec 10 2007 : 8:32:06 PM
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Hello,
I don't have it with me to list the title, but I have a guide book to renting lookout towers, cabins, huts, bunkhouses, etc in and around Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. The USFS website for their Northern Region (ID, MT, ND, SD, I believe) lists them online:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/recreation_r1/cabin_dir.shtml
There are two books listed on Amazon specific to your neighborhood:
How to Rent a Fire Lookout in the Pacific Northwest: A Guide to Renting Fire Lookouts, Guard Stations, Ranger Cabins, Warming Shelters and Bunkhouses in the National Forests of Oregon and Washington by Tom Foley and Tish Steinfeld
Lookouts: Firewatchers of the Cascades and Olympics by Ira Spring and Byron Fish
The Alpine Club of Canada lists their hostels and fantastic backcountry huts online at:
http://www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/facility/index.html
While on the topic of renting cabins, I'll have to put in a plug for the best hut-to-hut skiing and hiking I've experienced... the Kungsleden trail in no. Sweden:
http://www.trekkingvisions.com/content/view/35/30/
... and the rental cabins of the Tongass Nat'l Forest:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/cabins/cabinlist.shtml
(partial to the ones I worked on around Admiralty Island)
Marci |
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The Best Place To...: A great place to go |
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