In 1931 the southernmost spire of the Three Fingers (which had never been summited) was flattened using dynamite. Thereafter, like the pyramids of Egypt, human and mule suffering sustained this undertaking and the lookout stood tall in the same year, promising to shield this paradise from forest fires as a vantage alert system. After a respectable 10 years it was retired for use as a fire lookout & it decayed for the next 30 before being restored by Everett Mountaineers, an outdoor recreation club in the Pacific Northwest who proudly maintain it to date. If Muir were alive, he’d be so proud of their work and dedication for conserving this place so it can be accessible for both current and future generations.

Google it. One look at the images that pop up will make you squirm with disbelief- how the heck did they build that all the way up there in 1931? Even today, in 2014, it seems almost insane to engineer the process of building a lookout, if anything there. At the same time it will fill your imagination with wonder and force you to compare it with an archetypal Eagle’s Nest. Whether you compare its location to the fortress in the high alps depicted in the epic World War II movie Where Eagles Dare or if you think of it as the perfect setting for an evil scientist’s lair, one thing remains true- it exists and you can get to it.

Pugetoplis’ affliction for open country kept it from withering away and the trail leading to it soon became a favorite of hikers who wanted to enter the realm of technical climbing. The 16 mile round trip journey was worth braving the exposed snowfields and ridges to get to this shrine and experience it’s history and beauty.

Through the summer I tried satisfying my urge to explore Washington’s wilderness by heading out into the wilderness almost every weekend. A sprained hip flexor got in the way of a couple weekend’s outings but I did get a taste of what Washington had to offer. I had aggregated all the areas I wanted to check out through the means of hiking trips but of course I had a finite number of weekends. Here’s a chronological list of what I was able to do:

As the internship was drawing to an end, Andrew, another intern at Microsoft who shared my enthusiasm to revel in Washington’s offerings said to me, “We must do the lookout hike you sent me the link for earlier this summer”. It was my last week at Xbox and I couldn’t believe I had forgotten about Three Fingers. It was time to go to REI and procure microspikes and an ice axe. I had no technical climbing experience whatsoever, but Andrew did and the plan was that he’d teach me on the fly.

I also needed a bike. The 16 mile journey was lengthened to 36 roundtrip because the forest road leading to the trail head was closed partway in 2008 due to an unstable river bridge. With the closure of the road and no immediate plans to restore the bridge, the number of adventurists who frequented the lookout declined drastically. A quick search for recent trip reports of the area will give you the idea.

The POA was to split the 36 miles between two days- 10 miles of biking on the forest road and 8 miles of hiking on the trail each day. But where would the night be spent? Goat flats, an intermediary milestone and campground 16 miles in, would be a fantastic location. However there were some issues with spending the night there. Firstly, we wouldn’t be able to do the 18 miles equally which would result in one of the days being extremely strenuous and secondly we’d have to carry a tent which meant extra weight to haul slowing us down on the tight schedule we were trying to conform to. The solution was simple: spend the night in the coolest location ever — the lookout.

Spending the night there is first come first serve but with the few number of people setting out on this venture every summer it was highly probable that we’d be the only ones there. Also, the lookout is said to have housed as many as 6 people at one given time. OK, so I’m spending a night at the craziest and the most implausible location I’ve ever been to. This was going to be one of the most outstanding things I’ve done in a while.

After acquiring the technical climbing gear and a used bicycle, it was time to list and pack all the gear required.

Entire load laid out, except the bicycle, 3L water reservoir and backpack

It was a prudent decision to purchase a 36 liter Osprey day pack earlier this year. All of the items above somehow managed to fit in there. Granted there is no sleeping pad or stove included, but for an overnight trip I was accustomed to packing a much lower load and was surprised at the backpack’s ability to fit everything in.