After finishing for the day at Sunrise, my hiking buddy and I swung by Suntop for a quick lunch at the refurbished lookout. As usual, FS 73 is kind of dicey. Lots of moderate potholes to avoid, but the real trick is making them out in the dappled sunlight. Once you turn off onto FS 7315, the road gets considerably easier to drive. Make sure to keep your lights on and watch the turns. The good road condition makes people pick up speed heading down, and we had two close encounters with folks not paying attention.
Both gates were open, so you could drive all the way to the top. We opted to park at the second gate and hike up the mile-ish to the lookout, though. The bear grass is just starting to bloom, but I didn't spot any other interesting flora. The lookout was fully staffed today, and the volunteers were all working diligently on the ongoing ADA updates to it. Shoutout to the Snoqualmie Fire Lookouts Association - I had no idea they worked in conjunction with the Forest Service and were 100% responsible for the upkeep of both Suntop and Kelly Butte. Thank you, volunteers!
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