Living Our Dream: Top of the World

Incredible views from the trailhead starting up to the fire lookout. The signage said it was .2 of a mile to hike to the lookout station. Okay, I can do that, not that far although VERY VERY steep. And it was the longest .2 of a mile hike in my life. Phew, breathless, not sweating, just out of breath after 15 steeps. Altitude got us big time. So we walked 10 to 20 steps, stopped, looked around, took pictures, then walked a little more. And we climbed up and up.

The fire watch lookout way up there!

Made it!! There is construction going on outside the lookout, a new lightning protection system was being installed and we saw men on the roof, then down, then moving to the sides, etc. Asked the worker who was digging what was going on - explained that they had the contract to put in the new system - found out later they had the contract for all the lookouts in the 5 state area. Cool job!!! The RV we saw parked at the parking lot was theirs so they did not have to go up and down every day to get to work.

We were not alone. And there was an RV parked there?

Seven Devils as seen from trail to fire lookout

Snow on He Devil of the Seven Devils

Snow on the Wallawa Mountains (Oregon)

The sign lied - it's .2 of mile as the crow flies, 1/2 mile to walk it

Slowly but surely, we are making progress to get up there

Lots of chippies storing food away

Almost there

What incredible views! We struck up a conversation with the Forest Service Fire Watch man (his wife was in the lookout also) and they said they man this station for 3 months, came up and started July 10th, their last day on the job was this coming Thursday. Then they will head down to the Salmon River (near Allison Creek that we saw the other day) and do some hunting, then head to Twin Falls for the winter. This was their 6th summer on the job. Talk about dedication! Have to man the tower 7 days a week, daylight hours. If there is a storm and lightning is part of that storm, then he stays all night and watches. If he does not stay the night (quiet out) they both come up and have breakfast at sunrise and stay the day until darkness comes. Wow.

We could see 2 smoke areas - both were controlled burns 50 miles away

2 contractors burying the lightning protection cable

Not a gold snake but the lightning protection cable to yet be buried

Our car (and others) way down there! Hells Canyon in distance

The wife pointed out certain land marks, such as Dry Diggins which was a manned fire post until they built Heavens Gate lookout. It is abandoned now, but you can hike 7 miles to get to it and it has interpretive signs around it, can’t go in. No thanks. She also pointed out the burned area we saw coming up and at the lookout was from 2006. Since the growing season is so short, we were amazed that anything was growing at all.

Dry Diggins on top of this mountain, Hells Canyon beyond

Closeup of Dry Diggins

She also pointed out 2 other fire lookouts to the south that were manned up to last week, but to get to those the fire watch person (one was a woman) has to be helicoptered in and out. Supplies are restocked via helicopter once ever 2 weeks, and they live inside the fire watch, not in an RV like the Heavens Gate couple. Lonely.

The wife said that bears, elk, wolves, deer are common ‘up here’ and they do see them come near the close of when they head down. Picas, marmots, chipmunks, and lots and lots of ladybugs. Over 2000 people visit Heavens Gate every year - some from as far away as Germany and the French Alps. All the foreigners say that there is nothing like this vista where they are from.

Inside lookout

This is from 1937 - if it ain't broken, don't change it!

Although we could not see the Snake River, we saw 4 states - Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana in the distance. We could see 2 fires in the distance (in Grangeville - 50 miles away) and the man said they were controlled burns.