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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 2020)
2B | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2020 | APPEAL TRIBUNE Wildfires Continued from Page 1B and wife team watched for enemy air- craft as part of the National Aircraft Warning System. Then, it was used to spot wildfires until 1972 when it was decommissioned and slowly started falling apart. But instead of collapsing, like so many historic lookouts, the Sand Moun- tain Society took on the task of refur- bishing it. It was reopened to the public in 2011 and has become so popular it’s difficult to reserve a night. Allen, president of the group, does repairs each year at Gold Butte. This year, they sanded and repainted the floor before doing some work on the out- side. “Labor Day weekend we were finish- ing the two south shutters that had some rot,” Allen said. “I was a little ner- vous about the fire bring right there, but we figured we’d be OK.” That changed when they heard about the “historic” fire weather expected to hit Labor Day evening. The team of three woke up early that Monday and worked swiftly, finishing and hanging the new shutters on the lookout at around 4 p.m. Then the winds arrived. “The trees started whipping around like crazy and there was almost a torna- do of fern needles,” said Allen, a former lookout who’s spent a lifetime in the mountains. “I’d never seen anything like that.” They packed supplies quickly but de- cided to abandon their excess lumber, generator and other equipment. “We knew we needed to get out of there ASAP,” Allen said. “A lot of smoke started moving in from Lionshead, real- ly darkening the sky.” They got to their vehicles at 5:30 p.m. A downed tree had been blocking Brei- tenbush Road 46, but Forest Service of- ficials moved it. They ran into another downed tree on Highway 22 near Niag- ara and took about 20 minutes to move it off the roadway. “We knew things were getting bad but I never thought, driving home that night, that so many of those buildings would be gone by the next day,” he said. The Forest Service wrapped Gold Butte in a fire resistant blanket as the Beachie Creek and Lionshead fires closed in, but it was never needed. Gold Butte Lookout remained intact within one of the few areas near Detroit un- touched by fire. Gold Butte Lookout, located in the mountains above Detroit, was surrounded by wildfire. Lionshead burned to the west, Beachie Creek to the east and a small spot fire to the north. But the lookout itself was never hit. PHOTO COURTESY OF US FOREST SERVICE / CAL TOPO Bolan Lookout burned in Slater Fire Despite being a long and rough drive from Cave Junction, Bolan Mountain Lookout had emerged as one of Oregon’s favorite rentable lookouts. On clear days, you could see the ocean. Mount Shasta’s snowy cone loomed to the south. But for those who understood the region’s unique geology, it was even more interesting because you could pick up the distinct differ- ences in the surrounding mountains. The Klamath-Siskyou are an ancient range of mountains pushed up from the seafloor and as a result, the complexity of rocks is striking. From Bolan, you could see the bright orange mountains of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, the rusted Red Butte Wil- derness and the silver-colored Siskiyou Wilderness with Preston Peak rising high, a giant monolith that’s the sec- ond-tallest peak in the Siskyou behind Mount Ashland. Mostly, you got a sense of the sweep- ing wildness that inhabits this corner of Oregon and into California. If Bigfoot does roam anywhere, it’s almost cer- tainly down here. I stayed overnight at Bolan twice and hiked up to it a few times at the begin- ning of my journalism career at the Grants Pass Daily Courier. Bolan was the place that inspired a lifelong love of fire lookouts, and I’ve written about Fire teams wrapped Gold Butte Lookout in fire-protective material in the days after Labor Day to protect it from wildfire. US FOREST SERVICE many since then. Bolan remains the first and best. The only downside at Bolan was the notoriously rough and stinky outhouse, but just this summer, that was fixed and a brand new toilet installed. That, along with many other things, made it so heartbreaking when the Slat- er Fire burned it down after the Labor Day blowup. The Daily Courier reported that as the fire was approaching, “Forest Ser- vice employees Monte Edwards and Mike McCann made a mad dash to make sure a person who had reserved the lookout the previous night was safe,” wrote reporter Jeff Duewel. “That person got out earlier, but Ed- wards and McCann had a harrowing ride back to safety, with fire approach- ing and embers falling on the road in front of them until they reached Happy Camp Road,” he wrote. Duewel added this note, left by the last people to spend the night at the lookout. “Last night we watched the moon rise, and this morning we watched the sun rise,” said Sara Sanderson of White Salmon, Washington. “When in your life do you get to do that?” Rebuilding Bolan? There is already talk of rebuilding Bo- lan Mountain Lookout, and it wouldn’t be the first time. Snow Camp Lookout, not far away in Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, was burned in the 2002 Biscuit Fire and was rebuilt a few years later in 2005. Allen said the Forest Service should consider rebuilding Bolan, given its popularity and its vantage. The Forest Service said they’d con- sider it when the time was right. “As the Slater Fire is still going, there hasn’t been a chance for the Forest to have the conversation about rebuilding and what that would look like,” Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest spokes- woman Chamise Kramer said. “But in- terest is high from the public and part- ners, for sure.” Zach Urness has been an outdoors re- porter, photographer and videographer in Oregon for 12 years. Urness is the au- thor of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJour nal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors. 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