Leslie Romer - Lost Fire Lookout Hikes and Histories: Olympic Peninsula and Willapa Hills

Praise for Lost Fire Lookout Hikes and Histories

I couldnt stop reading! Lost Fire Lookout Hikes and Histories: Olympic Peninsula and Willapa Hills is a must-have for anyone interested in fire lookouts, Washington state history and/or hiking. The book combines interesting historic facts with detailed driving directions and trail descriptions.

Tammy McLeod, creator of Fire Lookouts of the West Coloring Book

Author Leslie Romer not only gives the necessary information needed to visit the lost lookouts of Washingtons Olympics and Willapa Hills, she has painstakingly researched and updated lookout histories. I am placing my copy of Lost Fire Lookout Hikes and Histories: Olympic Peninsula and Willapa Hills on the shelf next to my well-worn copy of Kreseks magnum opus, Fire Lookouts of the Pacific Northwest. Thats where it belongs.

Keith Lundy Hoofnagle, Former Olympic Fire Lookout and National Park Service Ranger

When it comes to exploring the hills, doing the research and having knowledgeable contacts, Leslie leads the pack. This long-needed guide from her many site visits provides everything you need to have a wonderful fire lookout experience, even if the lookout building is long gone. The guidebook lays out the history, access and route in excellent detail, prompting the reader to want to go out and explore them.

Eric Willhite, Peakbagger and Fire Lookout Blogger

Leslie Romer performs a major feat of archival research, as well as years of footwork, to come up with this wonderful new contribution to the Northwests great-outdoors bookshelf. She spells out exactly how to follow in her footsteps, and she fleshes out the experience with details of both the present plant life and the pastin words and in exhumed photos.

Daniel Mathews, author of Cascadia Revealed: A Guide to the Plants, Animals and Geology of the Pacific Northwest Mountains

This is a magnificent book, written by an experienced hiker and environmentalist. She has specialized in hiking to old fire lookout sites and has now visited more than 500 sites, most of them in Washington state. The book contains extensive overviews of 65 lookout sites in Washingtons coastal region, providing historic background as well as practical information and detailed route maps.

Bragi Ragnarsson, Professional Hiking Guide, Reykjavik, Iceland

Part hiking guide and part history book, Leslie Romers Lost Fire Lookout Hikes and Histories is a richly detailed account of the long forgotten fire lookouts that once dotted the Olympic Peninsula and Willapa Hills. Romer, a backcountry enthusiast, adeptly guides the reader to the lookouts on trails just waiting to be explored.

John Dodge, author of A Deadly Wind: The 1962 Columbus Day Storm

It is delightful... Leslie Romer makes a differenceinspiring a search for our history while exploring our beautiful world. May her readers follow her footsteps and find their own paths.

Molly Erickson, US Forest Service, Retired (44 years)

Copyright 2021 Leslie Romer

Individual writers, artists, illustrators, and photographers retain all rights to their work, unless they have other agreements with previous publishers.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below Attention: Permissions Coordinator.

Publishers Note: Portions of this work are memoir. Interactions with other individuals are as the author remembers them.

Sidekick Press

2950 Newmarket Street

Suite 101-329

Bellingham, Washington 98226

www.sidekickpress.com

Lost Fire Lookout Hikes and Histories: Olympic Peninsula and Willapa Hills

ISBN 978-1-7369351-0-1

ISBN 978-1-7369351-3-2 (e-book)

LCCN 2021918256

Cartographer: Martha Bostwick

Cover photograph: Kloshe Naniche replica cabin, 2003 (Leslie Romer).

Uncredited photographs in the text are by the author.

Cover Design: Elke Barter at elkebarter.com

All varieties of travel in unfamiliar territory include potential dangers. Readers of this book are responsible for their own actions and safety. The publisher and author are not responsible for the safety of the users of the information included here.

Dedicated to Henry Romer, my partner in lifeand in many adventures.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Overview History of the Fire Lookouts in Washingtons Coastal Region

This book includes the hike routes and histories for sixty-six fire lookout sites in Washingtons coastal region still accessible today. The hikes range from one-half mile to twenty-one miles, flat to steep, easy to challenging, and coastline to mountaintop. If you are looking for a new place to hike, you can find it here.

There are very few lookout buildings still standing in this region. With the historical information and hike directions in this book, you can visit the sites and restore the buildings in your mind. Three-fourths of these hike routes are published here for the first time. If you like solitude in the woods, trailheads without competitive parking, and untrammeled paths, you can find them among these hikes.

Early in the twentieth century, forest managers with foresight began to realize Americas forests and wood supply would not last forever. Loggers had worked their way across the continent, and were harvesting giant trees close to the Pacific Ocean. Major forest fires occurred in the Pacific Northwest, even on the often rain-drenched Olympic Peninsula. Just as the value of early forest fire detection was recognized in other areas, the early forest managers in this region recognized the potential value of forest fire lookouts.

Early fire lookout stations appeared as mountain peak cabins, hilltop towers with small viewing platforms, and trees with ladders and seats on top. The first fire lookout on the Olympic Peninsula was the cedar shake-covered Finley Peak lookout cabin, built by the US Forest Service on a ridge north of Lake Quinault in 1916. A little white clapboard building with a cupola called Kloshe Nanich was perched above the Sol Duc River Valley in 1919, a joint effort of state, federal, and private cooperation. Close to ninety fire watch stations were staffed during fire seasons in Washingtons coastal region between Finley Peak Lookouts first fire season and the 1960s.

Almost from the start of lookout construction in Washington state, aerial fire patrols were considered a potential alternative to stationary fire lookouts. The economics of air patrols gained support in the 1960s, and both federal and state forestry agencies changed their fire management policies during that decade. Most of the fire lookout buildings in Western Washington were closed and either abandoned or demolished by 1970. The roads and trails that led to those summit towers and cabins were abandoned or decommissioned. Nature was left to take its course.

This guide for hiking to historic fire lookout sites in coastal Washington is based on my exploration of the magnificent public and private forestlands in this region of the Pacific Northwest. After experiencing hiking trails from New Zealand to Iceland and a variety of places in between, I am happy to admit a preference for my home region. While we have many beautiful options for hiking, I have found exploration of the routes to old fire lookouts the most satisfying. Each offers not only its own combination of panoramic views, plant life, wildlife, and water features, but its own unique history as well.