Clear Lake Cabin Lookout

This week, yours truly skipped two days of work to venture to a fire lookout tower in the Mt. Hood National Forest for an overnight retreat. Only open to regular citizens in the winter months (when fires and the need to look for them are nonexistent), people must usually book their stay way in advance as I did with this one in May.

Bringing two of my friends along, the three of us hiked in two miles with water, gear and food in our packs and enjoyed a night of the simple life: staying warm by a stove, playing games and sipping good drinks. With a pretty good cloud cover on the way in, we were quite pleasantly surprised by our morning view.

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Sitting at 4400' with a 360 degree view of the surrounding hills and mountains through its many windows, we were determined to call in a fire if we happened to see one

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C-lin and I enjoying a snack after getting settled in
(photo courtesy of Josh)

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I was hoping this was a wood-fired sauna, but it ended up being the cutest outhouse ever

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Josh, C-lin and I exploring the area and getting in some bouldering

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Josh hauling up some firewood with a view of 1 of 2 lakes in the background

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Whoa....woke up to Mt. Hood in your face

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Morning coffee on the deck: It doesn't get any better than this