Boink Mountain?

Sex Peak Lookout
US 179, Montana 18
Kootenai National Forest Sanders County, Montana
Elevation: 5747'Coordinates: N47.72292 W115.644746Administrative Unit: U.S. Forest ServiceCooperators: Cabinet Ranger District
To Topographical Map
Sex Peak Lookout was named by two Forest Service foresters in the 1920s, reportedly after the topic of conversation that day. Whether or not the tale is accurate, there is no doubt the name has enhanced the popularity of the lookout in the cabin rental program. The L-4 groundhouse with catwalk was constructed in 1948 and staffed until the mid-1970s. It was refurbished and placed in the rental program in 1986.


This one has made my short list of Lookouts to visit. Probably in August, it is also near Trout Creek. If I can get Lisa to go with me on this one they will have to add the word "Incredible" to the name. Heh Heh

A Peacefull Hike

A couple of days ago I took the dogs on my daily hike to my private trails near my house. Of course the trails are on national forest service land and some people tend to trespass without regard for my personal privacy, so lately I have been going later because of the heat and possibility of running into people. I started the 1.6 mile loop at about dusk and knew I would finish it when it would be pretty dark. No one was in the parking area and so I let the dogs loose and let them run off some energy. Nice evening and as I got to the area that overlooks Hayden Lake I stopped and enjoyed the view and the sweet scents and sounds of a beautiful summer eve. As I resumed the my walk I noticed Etnie (Tasha's dog that we somehow inherited) stop in the trail and looking ahead, the trail curved right there and I thought there were probably some people so I hurried to get a hold of her because she barks and lunges at people which is embarassing. ( Etnie much like Tasha doesn't do anything you tell her ) As I got closer I saw what she was looking at. A big bull moose, right in the middle of the trail looking at the dogs. I was only about 50 feet away at this point and quite surprised. Awesome animal with its antlers still in velvet, the dogs started growling and inching toward it. I tried calling them back, I didn't want them harassing this nice moose and making it run around and stressing it out. I didn't need to worry about the moose, it wasn't troubled at all and calmly lowered his head and charged the dogs. The dogs being outweighed by 1000 pounds beat a retreat past me as I was prudently walking backwards at an increasingly faster pace. The moose was not slowing down and was now way too close for comfort. The vegatation is really thick here and there was nowhere to go but back down the trail. I turned and started to run - anyone who has been chased by a bull moose can appreciate the fact that I didn't dwaddle. In fact as I grasped the gravity of the situation I put on a burst of speed that I frankly didn't know I had in me. I was showing form and a lightness of foot that the world hasn't seen since I was on the football field at the Sunbowl in St. George 25 years ago. I swear I ran about a 4.2 forty yard dash. After about a hundred yards I looked over my shoulder and saw the moose stop and slowly wander into the dense forest off the trail. The dogs had no interest in going after it although I still had to go past that spot to get by on the trail. I carefully eased by and never saw it again. It was getting dark and since I had about a quart of adrenaline in my blood I decided to run the rest of the way. And I did.

Gem Peak Is Next

Here is my next victim. Gem Peak is in Montana about 80 miles from here. It is near the Clark Fork River and Trout Creek (blue ribbon fishing baby) It was originally built in 1921 and updated several times to this structure. It has a woodstove and beds and of course is in Grizzly country. Somehow I was able to reserve it on Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend. As you can see this one is a tower and looks pretty dang cool. Check out the link below for more info. It will also link back to the lookout website which is interesting. Idaho and Montana have a bunch of them. Utah, not so much.

http://www.firelookout.net/Individ_Lookouts/US180_Gem_Peak.htm

The View From The Top

This is our Fire Lookout that we rented for three days. It was incredible, we had a great time and soaked up the views for hours on end. There was a cool breeze blowing constantly and the weather was perfect. At all times there was a brisk breeze that felt like Christmas, it was great although sometimes at night the wind picked and really howled. The Lookout was sturdy and the winds didn't faze it, she is a good ship. Because of the wind there were no mosquitoes or flies present at all.
We cooked up some fine dutch oven suppers and pancake breakfasts and enjoyed a leisurely trip. One day we hiked to Gem Lake it was advertised as a 1.5 mile moderate hike. This was the demented opinion of some uber park ranger dipshit. It was a straight up the mountain death march which is ok but we just weren't expecting it. Beautiful lake though and I managed to catch one fish out of it.
We spent a lot of time with the binoculars scanning the country which was fun, Adalee loved the binocs and always wanted to have them. The first day we watched a fire burn on a mountain close by and kept an eye on the fire crew and helicopter that dumped water on it. The chopper would pick up water at a nearby lake hover over the fire and dump it out. It was interesting to watch and with the winds it was pretty stubborn and took them two days to put it out. A few people came up to the lookout and asked if we knew about the fire thinking we were lookouts. I told them we had crews on it but the wind was making it tough. I felt a little like Ed Abbey. We were at the end of a road and we had a locked gate down a ways but we only saw a couple of parties the whole time we were there. It was fun, I am looking at other Lookouts to rent in Aug and maybe September, Montana has a bunch of them some are remote and you have to hike in and some have hot showers and full kitchens. I just might try them all. Somebody has to do it.