Volunteers restore iconic fire lookout in the North Cascades

For generations, forest workers would keep watch over Washington's backcountry by looking for fires threatening the wilderness.
They stood stoic sentry in towers that are now disappearing across the landscape. Of the 656 that once existed, fewer than 100 left in Washington state.
Among the survivors is the North Mountain Lookout, located just outside Darrington.
Built in 1965, it towers 4,000 feet above sea level. The lookout was abandoned in the mid-1990s and plans were being considered to tear it down.
It sat shuttered for the next two decades and fell into a sad state of disrepair. The wood rotted. Vandals blasted bullet holes into the walls.
But a group of volunteers from the Darrington area decided to save it.
“When I started, I don’t know if I necessarily thought we could save it, I just thought it was worth trying,” said Roselie Rasmussen, a project coordinator with Friends of North Mountain Lookout.
About 100 people performed thousands of hours of work over the course of eight long years. Almost all of the materials and labor were donated.
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[@marzsit9833]

i last visited north mountain in 1988 when the forest service was still staffing it and using it as a lookout in the summer and a communications station year round. the ranger who was onsite told me then that the forest service was considering tearing it down due to excessive burglaries and vandalism from the darrington locals who hate the government, i'm glad to see it has survived and been properly restored.

[@loganjohnson3589]

As a young man I used to go to these lookouts just to see the views .and sometimes i would get to chat with the lookouts about there job .I thought it would be great to do when i got older still do .

[@smaclam6562]

I have always loved these old fire lookouts. The 1st time I visited one was in the 1970s at Richard's peak in Montana and I was hooked. No better way to appreciate the beauty And peace of nature than Spending time in one of these lookouts.

[@klep2859]

I have been looking for this tower for years. It was the one my Boy Scout troop visited in early 70's. Finally figured it out! Glad to see it's still there.

[@Shonufff88]

Wow! Nice job. Thank you!

[@jamesmurray8558]

I was stationed at the ranger station in Darrington, Washington. I have a photo of Whitehorse mountain. David Jansen shot his last movie is there, Highice.

[@spiritualservicesgodbless7641]

Thank you for the video.

[@theseventhgeneration6910]

Omg book me!

[@joshuaphillips755]

Hopefully profits go to the state and not some bourgeois yt people.

[@jarjarbinks6018]

Hate runs through you. You need to do some soul searching