Clouds often filter through the valleys of the Cascades, hiding and revealing the peaks beyond them. For 19-year-old Evan Wright, that changing view is part of what keeps drawing him back. “You’re kind of surrounded by almost everything nature has to offer up here,” Wright said. The hike is only about a mile and a half one way, but it gains roughly 1,300 feet of elevation.
“The first time I was up here, I was blown away,” Wright said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
The destination is High Rock Lookout, a historic fire lookout just outside Mount Rainier National Park. Built in 1930 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it sits high above the surrounding valleys with sweeping views of Mount Rainier and the South Cascades.
Don Allen has spent 37 years helping restore fire lookouts across the region. He is president of the Sand Mountain Society, an all-volunteer organization that began by restoring Sand Mountain Lookout in Oregon and later expanded to other historic preservation projects.
“There were so many lookouts at one time in the Pacific Northwest, and now, we’re down to so few,” Allen said.
KREM-TV CBS 2 Spokane
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