The windows of our bus were wet with condensation and the sky outside hadn’t yet shed its inky blackness. On any other morning, we’d just roll over in our beds and get back to sleep, but the sharp chill of the morning reminded us that this wasn’t to be a normal day. We stowed our bedding as fast as out thawing bodies would allow and got the bus ready for movement, our stowaways wrestling with the pains of an alpine start just as we were. Plans were made the day before to hike into High Rock Lookout, and that early-morning, mechanized, slog toward the trailhead would pay off more than our early consciousness could process.
A mere hour later, our friend Kerbie’s SUV was rounding a washboarded bit of gravel when we saw our Trailhead. Mornings are a particular struggle for me, but the sight of a small brown plaque with an embossed “TH” is akin to that feeling of having just finished a whole pot of coffee by myself and needing to move, immediately. According to the sign, we had found the right trail and a short and steep 1.5 miles stood between us and a purportedly stunning view of Mt. Rainier from an original fire lookout. The previous days had been rainy and cold, so hopes were high for a clear morning with safe trails.
Hike Details
Location: South Cascades
Distance: 3.2 miles (5 km)
Time: 1-3 hours (depending on how long you stay at the top)
Rating: Moderate
Elevation: Gain – 1365 ft, Highest Point – 5685 ft
Trailhead: High Rock Lookout Trailhead
Best Time To Hike: Summer and Early – Mid Fall to Avoid Snow and Frost
High Rock Lookout Trail
Running high from alpine start excitement, we eagerly took to the trail just moments after parking. Frost was billowing from our mouths with every breath and movement would be required to keep our bodies warm, so we promised the dog and ourselves that we’d be alright as long as we continued moving.
The trail to High Rock Lookout starts from a parking area along a procession of switchbacks in a dirt road. Although narrow, the path was quite nice and gently climbed ever onward. Massive trees towered overhead all around us as we fought the brisk air with every heaving inhalation. At several spots along the way we were tempted by benches for resting, but the forced march of a morning hike was in full swing and we powered on for, what felt like, survival.
Dropoffs And Timberline
Following a ridge up into the higher altitudes, the path to High Rock Lookout was as beautiful as you can hope on a hike in the mountains. Running parallel to the ridge, the path was constantly flanked by sheer dropoffs that tumbled downward beyond the capabilities of vision. Walking the narrow path, we pushed on for the better part of an hour until the trees began to thin and our situation became more clear. Each step carried us higher and closer to the fire lookout, but the landscapes all around us were reason enough to have shed out sleeping bags at such an ungodly hour. Nearly halfway to the fire lookout, I diverted from the main trial and my hiking party to find myself somewhat stranded on a rocky precipice with insane views of High Rock Lookout from below. At such a sharp angle, the rugged solitude of such a secluded and dangerous place began to sink in. With a newfound reverence for such a dedicated existence, I returned from my cliffside diversion and rejoined the trail upwards.
High Rock Lookout – A Sentinel From The 1920s
Fire Lookouts were a much more common sight in the early days of the National Parks. Before more advanced detection methods became available, decades of lucky rangers were posted in the High Rock Lookout where their time was spent making reports and keeping an eye out for the signs of fire. Built in 1929, this lookout is a 14’x14′ refuge against howling winds and often brutal weather. Since its closure as an active lookout in 2005, High Rock has remained a popular hiking destination and, according to the logbook, gets several visitors per day when weather permits. In 2018, this lookout underwent a bit of restoration, but it was unclear if the intent is to restore it to active use, or just maintain what is, almost without question, America’s most beautiful original fire lookout.
A Palace Above The Clouds
What had taken us just over an hour of hiking a well-developed trail became a pilgrimage into the history of the Forestry Service. As if opening a time capsule, we were suddenly in a landscape without soft or beautiful features in a traditional way. Scenes from Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums” swirled in my head and my life trajectory came into question, directly.
After we’d left the trees behind, our path became a precarious scramble up a steep rock face. Every footfall was tested as we climbed ever higher, avoiding snow and ice as often as possible. As the massive rock slab came to its skyward point, our reward stood before us. At the tip of a triangular slab of solid stone, a small white cabin stood atop well-braced stilts, propelling this noble structure higher than the mountain itself. With a southerly view of Rainier, the High Rock Lookout is perched delicately on a point of absolute perfection. The rocks were deceptively dangerous, but the October morning air had also frosted each individual blade of grass, making none of our footing portions completely safe or even confident.
The Views From High Rock
Once we’d managed the early morning rigors of existence, the trail and cold had stirred us awake just enough to fully feel the scale and majesty of High Rock. From the lookout building, the views tumbled off of each ledge, stretching down into beautiful valleys with frozen autumnal lakes until Rainier thrust up from the valley floor. From inside the lookout, not much could be seen for the boarded windows, but I couldn’t help but feel wonderfully isolated and resilient from inside the safety of the cabin.
Outside, I walked the lookout’s perimeter to fully explore my situation and found a precipice of boulders behind the lookout that represented the final inches of safety. Alone and maintaining contact with the rocks to steady myself from the gusts that grated across the entire High Rock shelf, I sat and absorbed the view before me. The rugged mountains stretched out before me, leading up to Mt. Rainier’s solitary peak. Seemingly an arm’s reach away but still miles between us, I lingered on those precarious ledges and rocks for a while, absorbed in High Rock’s stalwart beauty. It’s easy to imagine a summer spent in one of Gifford Pinchot National Forest’s three remaining fire lookouts as a ranger.
Another Perspective
My experience at High Rock is very different from my wife’s. Prone to anxiety in exposed, high places, Stephanie struggled on this hike while I was blissfully transformed into a childlike “Mountain Ryan” state. She didn’t get to enjoy the peak and lookout at High Rock and, after some shaky moments around timberline, I helped her find a place to rest while Kerbie and I pressed up the steep rock slab toward the lookout cabin.
My time near the drop off was a solo experience, as was her freezing guard duty watching Kerbie’s dog Lou, hoping that I was safe and didn’t get blown off of a ledge by the wind. The hike and views she saw were also beautiful and didn’t lack for majesty. Towards the end, though, High Rock meant something different to each of us. We all embrace dangers in different ways, but there is still plenty of reason to get out and push those boundaries, even when they prove too overwhelming.
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