We chase lookout structures and sites. We had tried this one before but due to road being closed, we couldn't quite get close enough to make it.
The road is now open, but they built some crazy tall berms into it so while our CRV made it to where the trail comes in from Elk Lakes, it wasn't going to make the next section so we parked it there. We carried five liters of water each up the rest of the road and trail - there is no water anywhere along there EXCEPT we did see a source part way up the road but not enough to save you from carrying up water.
Someone has been working on lower end of trail! The start of trail is now easy to see. It is maybe a quarter mile past the road gate on the left. It was cleared out and much easier than the mess we found last time. It was still really narrow in places, but it was passable. Once we got to the ridge, there was a place where trail was a challenge to spot. We had gaia to help. We had more blowdown and overgrowth. We kept going up and wondered if the report of one flat spot to camp was real. It was! Just before the lookout site is a place that was built up with rocks and perfect for a tent. The last of the Rhodies were blooming. There were peak a boo views from site, but best views were down a bit. Even those were not the usual 360 degrees of wow in most lookouts or lookout sites. Still we were glad to finally get it done.
Lots of debris at this site.
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