Flag Point Lookout

Can't believe I never posted this! A highlight of our winter--

Six months ago, I got lucky enough to find two consecutive nights' availability at Flag Point Lookout. A 14x14-foot cab perched atop a 60-foot tower, the lookout is staffed in the summer, but available to the public the rest of the year. Reservations are tough to come by--a maximum of six months in advance, and weekend dates are snatched up the moment they appear on the website.

My friend Gary, who led Patrick and I around Crater Lake three years ago, raves about the lookout and the challenging 11-mile ski in. I, of course, am immediately interested in anything that sounds physically challenging. I was also looking to get Scott and I out of town for a quiet weekend.

The morning we departed, I got home from work well after midnight. Luckily, I had packed before I left for work, but we still had some last-minute tasks to finish up before starting the three-hour drive to the trail head. The light snow year meant we could drive further up the road, leaving only about six miles to ski. Lucky for us, because it was snowing hard on the way in and fresh powder made for slow going. The first couple miles went by quickly, but the gradual climb steepened and the untracked powder got deeper.

My thighs burned from breaking trail and I could feel the weight of Scott's misery lagging behind me as he threatened to jettison the bottle of wine I planned for dinner. We were overjoyed when the tower finally came into view and even more relieved when the combination lock on the access gate opened easily.

We hauled our packs up with the pulley system and discovered a fully stock rack of wood and a pot full of boiled water on the stove. We settled in for a relaxing weekend, enjoying the snowscape even though the distant views were obscured by low, heavy clouds and steady snowfall.

The cabin decor is "comfortable spartan," consisting of the most uncomfortable bed ever, a table with one broken leg, two chairs, a podium bolted to the floor in the center and equipped with a circular laminated map of the area, wood stove, gas stove, sink (no running water) and storage cabinet.

There are plenty of places to explore by ski in the area of Flag Point, but we opted for a day of rest, reading and cards. We made necessary outings to the pit toilet, the woodshed, and for trash bags full of snow to melt for drinking and cooking water.

Despite heading downhill, the journey out was just as difficult as the trip in. Snow continued to fall, but was warming at the same time, turning into the phenomenon I refer to as Portland cement. Heavy, wet, and still accumulating, the stuff impeded our progress mightily. When we finally reached the car, it was surrounded by several inches of snow (we parked on dry pavement).

The Subi navigated the few miles of snowy road like a champ and we got back to Portland in time to savor a burger and a Porter at Alameda, our local brewhouse.