High Rock Lookout Restoration Project

09/30/2026

Fall has arrived at High Rock looking more like winter. Crew on site Thursday night and Friday, including Sarah Genson, experienced high winds and horizontal rain/snow, with ice-covered rocks and lookout windows. It really put the raingear to the test! Saturday was the exact opposite with temperatures allowing us to strip down to T-shirts. The high winds were strong enough to scatter stacked lumber and loose materials, destroy one of the platform tents, and tear apart the security fencing. Volunteers spent part of Saturday cleaning up the mess.

Volunteers Cade and Sarah were stationed in the lookout for the weekend, with master carpenter Cade installing security hardware and building a door shutter while Sarah did a wonderful job interacting with the many hikers who came to High Rock between 6 am and 9 pm. Yoshi brought two enlisted colleagues from Fort Lewis to serve as cargo porters, and Colby, a volunteer from the Olympic National Forest, returned to help out with various tasks on site. Rick’s efforts were largely focused on site clean-up and preparations for closing down the field camp in the near future.

Several of our regular crew and leadership were away this past weekend to attend the Forest Fire Lookout Association Western Conference, in CleElum, Washington. Haley Kautz was a conference speaker, with a presentation on the High Rock Lookout Project. Others in attendance report that her project summary was excellent!

We still need help with hauling materials up and down the trail as we finish up operations for this season. If you are interested, please fill out the volunteer form and waiver. Once that is done you will have emails with instructions on how to sign up.

Thanks to all the great people who have come together for this project - a diverse and interesting bunch, for sure!

09/24/2026

Hiking High Rock Lookout this weekend?
We could use your help!
As we begin preparing for the end of the season , we have a number of items at the lookout that need to be brought down.
If you are planning to make the hike, especially if you volunteered with us before and can help us bring items down to the trailhead that would be great!
Every item makes a difference as we get the lookout ready for winter.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer at High Rock please email [email protected]

09/24/2026

After last week’s update, here is what we’ve accomplished:

Carrie finished the final coats of paint on the beautifully crafted shutter props that are curing at the workshop in Randle. Don picked up the shutter prop end caps and loaded them up with the facia boards he fabricated. It was a lot of material to get up to the top but several hikers ended up helping to carry the loads with volunteers Paul and Haley helping too.

The rest of this week’s work was focused on finishing exterior details to weather proof the structure. We have bad weather in the forecast and want to be as prepared for winter as possible. Chris worked on the tricky notching job for the facia boards that cover the guy wire anchors while Sara found and filled all the little gaps and cracks that had let in water after the first rains and then made and installed (with Steve’s help) the apron flashing pieces on the lookout. Rob worked on the elaborate origami corner detail flashing where the windows meet the siding. Sara made some inserts that cover the two windows that open and will deflect rain as a temporary solution, since those windows had let in water that stained the floor. Next year, adding screen windows in that same spot will do the trick. Volunteer stewards like Deb helped with touch up paint.

We also assessed the floor sander and got the structure dehumidified, but due to several factors including the cooler temperatures, sanding and oiling the floor will have to wait until it is warmer next season. Final tasks this week include testing security measures.

Grateful to all the volunteers as well as the hikers who are respecting our work space. We know this is taking longer than expected and this year it seems the weather has impacted us more than previous years. At some point we will be shutting down work for the season. When that happens we will need all of you to visit when you can to keep an eye on things for us.

THANK YOU!

09/21/2026

Are you one of our volunteers who have filled out the online form, signed the waivers and are receiving our emails? If so, we would really appreciate you signing up to be a steward this week (Shifts are 24 hours and we have openings THIS TUESDAY starting at noon at least until Saturday at noon. The link to sign up is in that email. THANK YOU

09/17/2026

In the week just passed, Rob and Scheris were busy finishing off exterior window stops and letting-in with primer, aided by Dana, and other site stewards. Rob, with help from Evan, installed steel shutter props on the north side (fabricated and galvanized by a donor). Rob also prototyped full height corner flashing above the window sill. This is so important it keeping water from leaking into the lookout and damaging the wood.
Various stewards throughout the week set all outstanding inside window stop nails and added nails where missing. Rob and Evan upgraded to longer bolts on the lower door hinges. After Mary stained all the hand rails last week, Justin drilled all the bolt holes in them, followed by Amber cleverly staining the inside of the holes with rope and stain.
Meanwhile, back in the shop in Randle, Don fabricated the corner fascia while Carrie primed and painted shutter props, then together they finished priming and painting the fascia and shutter props.

Yoshi hauled more fuel up for us, which is always so appreciated!

We don’t have a lot of photos for this week, sorry about that.

09/11/2026

***FYI: THERE ARE SEVERAL REPORTS OF PEOPLE AND DOGS GETTING STUNG ON THE TRAIL JUST ABOVE THE SECOND BENCH AS YOU HEAD UP.***

As predicted, wet and unseasonably cold weather affected our work this past week, and a surprisingly strong wind burst also did damage to two of our shutters. Rick was able to secure all but the one most damaged shutter in spite of high winds to prevent additional damage, but the one was pretty badly damaged, having flipped up onto the roof. It needed it’s hinges repaired and all its cleats replaced. Another needed less significant repairs. In classic SMS fashion, Linn jumped into action and scoured a salvage yard for vintage lumber to replace what was damaged and brought it to Don’s home on Thursday night. Don headed out early the next morning.

Luckily, the cavalry also came to the rescue in the form of Crew 6 of the Central Pierce Fire and Rescue, led by Bill Hash! Having offered to help in any possible way after the vandalism of last June, Crew 6 took advantage of the wet day and met Don at the trailhead to carry in 11 loads of supplies and lumber needed to repair the shutters!

Once up top, Crew 6 also pulled the broken shutter down from the roof and detached it from the building, then lowered it to the cargo platform for repairs. From that point, Don set about ripping cleats on the table saw and cutting them on the chop saw while Kaya replaced damaged cleats and one broken shiplap board. This work continued into Saturday in steady rain (which lifted shortly after Don headed down the trail to run an errand to Portland). Along the way, he stopped at the Carpenter’s shop in Randle and searched around to find enough material to fabricate new shutter props (the original replica props were thrown over the cliff by the vandals.) After several hours of running boards through the table saw and planer, enough material was prepared and waiting for Caleb, who arrived the next day (Sunday) to expertly round the ends of all the props. Don returned to High Rock on Sunday morning to continue work with Kaya and Evan (who had brought ice and joined in to help re-install the two damaged shutters on the south side of the building). The extra muscle Evan provided was critical to getting the heavy shutters lifted from the lower platform into position on the catwalk. It was a classic team effort. The sun even came out at the end of the day!

On Monday morning, while Don worked on the front door, Kaya came up with a method to reform the replica ridge cap, which the public had been stepping on, causing it to lose its original 8/12 pitch. Working together, Kaya and Evan worked their way from one end to the other using pipe clamps to bring the sides of the ridge cap closer together. When they were done you would never have known it was ever deformed! They cleverly made the cap a little tighter such that it would conform to the shape of the roof when Don pressed down on it. All three donned fall arrest gear and worked together to install the classic ridge cap. Kaya served as spotter and tool handler while Don and Evan installed the cap.

Rob and Mary arrived Monday afternoon to take over, and Rob started implementing a very clever repair to the door frame that had been kicked in. Mary evaluated window stops and found some were still missing after the vandalism, which she and Rob remedied. By Tuesday night, Rob had fully repaired the door frame and even had to old deadbolt in the original door cassette working (which Rob refurbished during the off-season). Mary spent that afternoon applying a protective stain on all the catwalk railings. As things dried out, both Rob and Mary applied primer and exterior paint as needed around the windows, mainly on the exterior. The early L-4 fire lookouts depend on paint to seal many joints around the windows.

While the surprisingly and unseasonable wind and rain provided a setback, all was restored by the end of the work period, and many additional details were completed. Our thanks to the crew, to the Crew 6 firefighters, to our stewards, to all who have provided logistical support in the background, to Paul Mopps for coming to help when we needed you… twice!, and to all the donors and people who love High Rock Lookout!

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