Suntop Lookout — Thursday, May. 22, 2025

Lovely little afternoon hike! The lower gate is open and the upper gate is closed, however the road beyond the upper gate has lingering snow (see pic), is honestly in really rough condition (deep ruts and a fallen boulder) and will probably need some work to make it passable for cars. Trail itself is in fine shape. Lots of awesome work has been done around the lookout with improved paths and a fresh new balcony/ramp/stairs - saw plenty of elk sign and one young cow plus a cute but very fast coffee-colored rabbit. Also most likely some cougar tracks but was unable to confirm as they were pretty faint. Only some small snow patches remain on the upper road, which can be bypassed by taking the trail to the top.

Also, whoever comes up to open the lookout should probably bring a new battery for the smoke detector…thought it was a strange bird call for a minute!