If you are a reliable person a job on a Western fire lookout or volunteering as a fire lookout is a good test. It gives you a base with a roof over your head.
In 1962 I was offered a job on an isolated lookout that was a hike in proposition. They were having problems keeping people on it because supplies were carried in on the lookouts back or pack train. Lookouts that have a road to them are a little easier but many people cannot deal with it.
I made a wise decision and took a fire crew job.
I have spent some time hunting and fighting fire in this area. It is still isolated but there is the risk of being shot my Mexican or local dope growers.
http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Policy/Fire/Lookouts/Daggett.pdfI first meet this outstanding lady in 1962. I and FF foreman hauled a replacement gas refrigerator to the lookout. One chore I did not like was getting on the roof of the lookout to make repairs.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/40.16/fifty-summers-and-360-degrees/print_viewOver the years I have visited with Nancy at Dry Lake, Deadwood, and Collins Baldy Lookouts.
http://www.firelookout.org/LookoutJobs.htmMost of the old lookouts are gone. Like old trees in the forest, rot and termites take over.
My mother was a lookout back in the 1960’s. It was a very isolated location with a nasty road to the tower. When she went to the spring for water or to the outhouse she took my Jungle Carbine with her because of the bears. It was one of those lookouts that got very few visitors because of its isolated location. The tower is now gone. It was located at: Check it out in google earth.
41° 36.742'N 123° 34.111'W
The area is isolated and Indian country. In fact that maybe the reason the lookout no longer exists. The lookout is on the edge or in Indian medicine country and the rumor the Indians burned it down. By that time my mother had moved to a lookout a 100 miles south because it received more visitors.
The smoke she enjoyed reporting was at another lookout. The lookout went out of service for fifteen minutes. The lookout did not come back on the radio in 15 and she took a look in that direction and spotted smoke coming from the lookout. The guy had left pancakes on the stove while he went down to the outhouse. It put up a bunch of smoke but no damage to the tower.
My hunting partner and I watch this distant forest fire from the base of the old Blue Ridge Lookout on the Klamath N.F.
The fire is burning on the edge of the wilderness. Living in the wilderness is tough, because 10-12 foot snow packs are common. When the storms hit in late October and early November the bears go in to hibernation, the deer and the elk migrate down in the valley. They know that living off the land is difficult in the winter. They move down slope where they can manage in less snow.
Over the years I have notice that many of the guys that go into the bush for isolation, come out in the winter and draw welfare, taking comfort in the bottle.
