Predecessors ...

We fire lookouts are proud anachronisms, in a way ... doing a job and living a life that's little-changed from when it was designed a century ago.  That's one of the things I like about it the most, and I think nearly all lookouts share an appreciation for this legacy, as well as a feeling of kinship with those who did this job decades ago.

I'm pretty fascinated by these places and the stories of the people who used to work there.  Eighty years ago, there were probably a few thousand lookouts working in the West every summer, and most of the towers were in the backcountry, reachable only by horse and pack mule.  There were a few long-term lookouts working back then, but most of the time the Forest Service staffed the towers with a mix of college students and local kids ... often teenagers who had signed up for their first grand adventure away from home.   It was an experience to remember for the rest of their lives.

Here are a couple photos from that era, that I found in a ranger station office in Montana a few years back.   West Point Lookout was in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington State, and in 1951 it was staffed by 18-year-old Les Hudson.  The second photo was taken at the end of the season, as Les packed his gear down the mountain to head home.