You are not going to be surprised by this at all. We had read about a Lookout tower and had to go for a visit. This is one of the few still used and functional towers in Oregon. It is only used for a few months each summer from what I understand. The day we went, no one was there but us. This cabin sits on a 40 foot tall tower that was originally built in the 1920s, but then replaced three times since then. It sits at about 5600ft of elevation with terrific views all around. The hike up was super pleasant even though we were still in hunting season. I could feel the tension in the air and felt for the deer. Even Nova and I could sense the eyes of hunters on us as we moved silently through the forest and passed the calm lakes in the region. It was eerily quiet. Once we passed enough miles from the trailhead though, we could sense that tension break and started to see deer again. They were more relaxed in our presence, so I figured they must sense intentions. Even though I dress similarly to a hunter and carry a gun, I think they knew we meant them no harm.
When we reached the summit where the tower is located, we found it intensely windy. Climbing that 40 foot tower in a windstorm was wild as we could truly feel it swaying beneath our hands and feet. Around and around we climbed, but sadly found the catwalk gated off. I am not going to lie, I tried to figure out a way up there. But we couldn't get to it, which was so disappointing!
Instead of enjoying the views from the top, we ran up and down the stairs, ate lunch, explored the grounds and tried our best to hold our eyes open in the fierce winds. You can see that Nova failed at that here. Even her normal floppy ears were up in attention to that wind!
Finally when we were ready to go, we climbed that beautiful tower once more and then on our final decent of her enjoyed the fact that my boots and Nova's coat were matching! The simple things in life!!
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