High Rock Lookout Restoration Project

09/03/2026

This past week was the first full week since the trail reopened to the public. We want to thank all those who signed up to be public stewards to greet the public and help enforce the closure around the construction zone.

Work continues on the lookout!

The big accomplishment of the last week was the completion of the catwalk and hand rails, led by Rob and Justin. Several crew members commented that – when they heard we had to replace all the hand rail posts – they were afraid we would not be able to get the catwalk back on this season. Many of you have expressed relief to see it put back together… something that was critical to much other work continuing!

Thanks to all the folks who carried up the replacement lumber and jumped in and helped, the catwalk restoration is near complete. The crew went to great lengths to use as much original fabric as possible. There is still some oiling to do on the handrails and catwalk, but wet weather the day after the hand rails were installed have prevented further progress on that. At this point, we are largely waiting for things to dry out before work requiring dry weather can continue.

Over this past weekend, we accomplished a number of tasks requiring precision work, including: built a new hatch for the attic access; added a customized Dutchman to the bottom of the door to that we could install a hook strip that mates to the classic brass threshold just installed under the door; Rob installed the door cassette; Don installed and final-painted the trim around the perimeter of the ceiling; and a crew including Sara O painted inside and out (until the wet weather hit).

While work will continue over Labor Day weekend, wet weather is expected to limit what we can do. We are considering having an indoor workshop in Randle to replace the shutter props that were thrown over the cliff by the vandals. We need to replace all 12 props.

As the weather turns we are prioritizing tasks we can realistically finish this season and focusing on getting security measures up and running to prevent vandalism
During the off season. We still need volunteers to sign up as stewards, interacting with the public as we continue working. Thank you for your continued patience and support!

08/28/2026

Thank you Jon Goodwin KGW for your visit and this beautiful piece!

08/28/2026

https://youtu.be/jssIWrg5dqo?is=CurWwvJIX8Tq7UUl

Evan Wright spurred on the effort to restore High Rock Lookout outs...

08/27/2026

High Rock Lookout Area Closure

The trail is open — the lookout area is closed

Construction work is continuing at High Rock Lookout. A temporary closure has been extended to protect visitors, volunteers, and crews working in the area.

Closure period: August 24 – October 31, 2026
Unless rescinded sooner

What this means

High Rock Trail #266 remains open. Visitors may continue to hike the trail.

The area within 150 feet of the High Rock Lookout foundation and structure is closed to all occupancy and travel.

This closure also includes the volunteer tents, sleeping platforms, and other volunteer-use areas located within the closure boundary. These areas are not available for overnight use during the closure.

Please stay outside the posted closure boundary and follow all signs and Forest Service instructions.

Thank you for helping protect High Rock

08/27/2026

From our partners at the Gifford Pinchot. The TRAIL IS OPEN… the LOOKOUT and all our work and sleeping areas are CLOSED. Click on the links in the original post below for more details

08/27/2026

(Editor note: I (Mary Prophit) am the person who posts the weekly project updates. I get most of the write up from our project manager Don and add or tweak things, then add photos provided by a multitude of volunteers. I’m currently on vacation so here is the report but I’m not taking the time to caption each photo. Thank you for understanding. Also… while the trail is open and we welcome visitors to the rock, we are asking that you stay away from the lookout and our tents. Thank you!

The week of August 19-25 was another very productive one with a good number of volunteers and some folks who really went above and beyond the call of duty. To start the period, Steve and Mary got a final coat of paint on the ceiling of lookout and pre-oiled the back sides and end grain of all the deck boards. Amber stained all of the handrail posts and sealed all of the notches for the joist system before the rim joist were installed.

Courtny and Jessica primed and painted all three sides while Dan painted the north side And assisted with painting wherever needed.

Our team of Haley, Courtny, Jessica, and Catherine finished the siding on the lower east, south, and west walls (now that the ledger board is attached).

As usual, Rob showed his remarkable ingenuity by hard wiring one of our extension cords into the floor sander, which had a non-matching plug on it. This allowed us to begin sanding the floor, especially in the corner, where the built-in wood box was framed by our master framer, Cade from Seattle.
Jessica also earned the "Johnnie Short Award" for the week by carrying in an 8 foot 4 x 6 that probably weighed close to 70 pounds! Also, her efforts led to the completion of the east handrail system, thus making the entire deck framing system complete. With the help of Justin, Cade, Rob, and Evan, the entire catwalk system was ready to be restored, and the front steps were back in place. By the end of the work period, Rob, Jessica, Kaya, and Emily had the east and south sides of the catwalk reinstalled.

Thankfully, Rick and Monica and Roger (and family, plus others) were able to come up on Sunday and Install signs and barriers cordoning off the summit from the public. The trail reopened at midnight on Sunday and the first visitor was up for sunrise the next morning. Visitors are welcome to come to the West Summit just below the Lookout, but the construction zone is closed for the safety of the public and our volunteer workers. If you are interested in being the person who greets the public at the barrier and explains the reasons for the closure at the lookout, please let us know! We need to cover all dates with a sentinel of sorts!

Our sincere thanks to all the people who staffed the trailhead greeting area and helped administer the trail closure for the 6 1/2 weeks! It took a lot of you and all of you are stars! Your efforts allowed progress to be more significant than it otherwise would've been and helped us overcome the terrible vandalism of early June!

Cade kindly came from Seattle to build the frame for the built-in wood box. All we had to go from was photos and the lid which had survived and was retained by the restoration crew. Based on the photos, Courtny and Amber were able to get the woodbox sided by Sunday afternoon.

Our master Carpenter, Chris Gustafson, came to the rescue on the weekend bringing material from his shop in Albany to directly replace the original under story door and he built it in the Lookout with the help of Amber and Kortney and Justin, then Justin, Chris, and Rob mounted it in place. Chris also replaced one scratched pane of glass and improved the cavity for the door latch. His help was invaluable!

The crew did as much as they could to reuse original deck and joist boards, but some new material had to be blended in. This next week will focus on the installation of the handrails and possibly the west deck, plus the floor needs to be final sanded and sealed.

Dan and Colby worked on the ceiling trim on Sunday, which was very carefully primed and painted by Jessica and Dan ahead of the installation. The floor trim was also pre-painted, but can't be installed until the floor has been sealed.

Thanks to crew leaders, Rob, Justin, Chris, and Haley for their efforts! Thanks also to Steve and Mary for doing such a great job, and to all the volunteers that helped... Cade, Colby, Kaya, Emily, Rick, Monica, Deborah, Dan, Courtny, Jessica, Rob, Justin, Amber, Mary, Steve, Haley, Catherine, Roger and family, and more! We couldn't do it without you all!

08/20/2026

She said yes!!! Congrats to trailhead volunteers Rayne and Trevor !

08/20/2026

The last week saw another big milestone in overcoming one of the other hurdles caused by the vandals in June: Ryan at Jim’s Custom Molding in Molalla, OR rushed replica CVG-fir beaded ceiling material to replace what was thrown over the cliff by the vandals. This allowed us to finish installing the final 6' of ceiling: a painstaking process! After the careful pre-priming and painting led by Carrie and assisted by Sarah G, and Dolores, the boards were ready to install by Sunday.

The money to pay for this replacement material came from your donations, for which we are grateful! We are also grateful to Ryan for all the set up work that he had to do to run another batch of this complex profile (which matched the original flawlessly!).

Don picked up that material on Wednesday August 12 and conveyed it to the trailhead where wonderful cargo volunteers, including Aidan, Jaden, and Jessica, carried it on their shoulders to the lookout where other volunteers oil primed and painted the inward facing surface. By Sunday afternoon, Aidan, Daria, and Haley had made their way across the rest of the ceiling and were nailing in the very last ceiling board (which needed zero trimming, and was perfectly square to the building! This is a testament to the perfect framing and leveling of Paulino Martín the previous year, and the careful installation of the ceiling by the crew).

Don stayed on site Wednesday through Monday, joined by the largest group of volunteers on the project to date with well over 20 people helping. This impressive group maintained high-quality in all of their work, with multiple processes going simultaneously, safely, and in a spirit of cooperation and shared purpose. It was the fruit of Rick's classroom instruction on the principles of historic preservation, and taking the time to do things in just the right way, and all the related workshops held in Randle.

Rob led the installation of the deck ledger boards using all new material provided by McKenzie River Ranger District on the Willamette National Forest. He carefully drilled pilot holes inside the original holes, gradually increasing to 5/8 inch diameter and fastening it with his clever Rob-designed spacers to help drain water from behind the ledger board. Interestingly, the ledger was affixed to the structure using square-headed vintage bolts donated by the Sisters Ranger District on the Deschutes National Forest (that were salvaged from the winter-collapsed Black Butte Lookout tower many years ago!). In order to do this, Rob had to drill through all the layers of framing and siding and flashing in the understory portion of the lookout. Steve, Mary and Evan assisted in numerous facets, including deburring the holes in the heavy gauge flashing. Great efforts (including the custom Z-flashing) were made to keep water from getting into the understory walls. (Some of this was covered in last week’s update)

We had a very special guest during this phase: Paulino Martín's son, Cristian, worked Friday through Sunday, initially helping Rob with the ledger boards and then working with Justin by cutting the new handrail posts for the catwalk. It was his first time visiting the lookout that his dad talked about so much. He fit right in and was warmly received.

On Sunday, Jon Goodwin, from KGW-TV in Portland (who heard about the vandalism and has been following the project updates) hiked up with Evan and interviewed several volunteers. After his visit he wrote: “ The trip to the lookout exceeded expectations in every way. The views. The lookout. And the people!!! My cup is so full….Thank you thank you thank you.” He plans on airing a story sometime in September.

As Rob headed home for a break, Justin assumed the lead on the handrail posts, with 30-year SMSer Bryan C of Tacoma sculpting flawless notches to match the originals. Bryan's attention to detail is reflected in the tight fits of the rim joists. Don and Justin consulted quite a bit in an effort to use as much of the original rim joists as possible, but some needed to be replaced.

The still good portions of the original handrail posts were cut off and reused in places where shorter pieces were needed.

Steve and Mary added coats of paint to the walls and ceiling, leaving a beautiful solid color that really shines. And added protective oil to all of the salvageable catwalk pieces.

Our trailhead crew(including several new volunteers) were incredible! Keeping loads prepped and ready as cargo volunteers arrived, making sure to radio as loads were heading up or as people arrived back to the trailhead and cleaning up micro trash and stubborn graffiti, all the while being the friends face for visitors asking about the project.

On Tuesday, August 18th we had a VERY SPECIAL MOMENT!! Two of our trailhead volunteers came up to the lookout after their shift…. AND GOT ENGAGED!! Congrats to Trevor and Rayne!! Steve and Mary were thrilled to witness your beautiful moment and happy to be in on the secret and take photos and video!

We also received by mail from Steve S an album of photos he took of the interior and exterior of the lookout from 1987! It was perfect timing as some questions about building details were being raised. The album will eventually be in the museum in Packwood but for now it is a very helpful resource.

The striking aspects of the week were the fact that so many people rotated in and out of the setting without any stoppage in the work and they jumped in and helped cooperatively and happily, without any negative energy. Hopefully, everyone on the team felt the same way and enjoyed their time being productive.

As our last week of trail closure winds down and visitors are once again welcome on the trail, stay tuned for any partial closure information and of course our weekly project updates.

Photo cred: many volunteers!

08/20/2026

Our friends at Longmire Springs Brewing are putting together a really fun event to support our project.

Join us for an evening of painting and sipping featuring the High Rock Lookout, the iconic spot on our West Coast IPA can.

Instructor Michele Livernash will guide you through creating your own version of the lookout, no experience needed. Your ticket includes one drink and all painting supplies, so just show up ready to relax and create.

Best part: $10 from every ticket goes directly to the High Rock Lookout Restoration Project, helping preserve this beloved landmark for years to come.

All ages welcome. Space is limited, so grab your spot early.

Friday, August 21 at 7:00 PM
$60 per person