Lookout Mountain
Look out over the Methow Valley and beyond
Quick Facts:
Location: Methow Valley, WA
Distance: 3.0 miles one way
Elevation Gain: 1170 feet
Contact: Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Methow Valley Ranger District
Maps: Green Trails Methow Valley 51SX
Recommended Guidebook: Day Hiking North Cascades (Mountaineers Books)
Notes: trail open to mountain bikes and motorcycles; Final 1.5 miles of access road can be rough. Park at gate and walk road if necessary
Trailhead directions: From Twisp drive Twisp River Road for 0.2 mile and turn left directly across from the Okanogan Rescue and Fire Department building. Then bear right onto Lookout Mountain Road and shortly afterward bear left onto a gravel road that eventually becomes Forest Road 200. Continue 6.1 miles to the road end and trailhead.
Good to Know: Kid-friendly, dog-friendly, wildflowers, historic fire lookout
Hike to a fire tower hovering above the community of Twisp, and look out over the Methow Valley and to the lofty and jagged peaks of Sawtooth Ridge. The Lookout Mountain Trail begins as an old Cat track before transitioning to single track. Open to multiple uses, including motorcycles, the trail is lightly traveled. The trail heads up a steep rib before easing up, traveling mainly under a forested canopy of pine and fir. In early summer the way is lined with shooting stars, spring beauties, and penstemon.
The trail then turns south, skirting the summit coming to a junction with the lightly traveled and hard-to-follow Lookout Ridge Trail. Continue left leaving forest for meadows and ledges and a breathtaking view south to the soaring summits of the Sawtooth Ridge; Hoodoo and Oval peaks the most prominent. Continue to reach the 5518-foot summit and its fire lookout. From the open summit look out at scores of peaks. Gardner, Patterson, Goat, and Robinson to the west. Tiffany, Bald, North Twentymile, and Granite north. The Columbia Plateau is to the east, the Sawtooths to the south; and. directly below is the Methow Valley—and Twisp.
For more details on this hike and 135 others in Skagit, Whatcom and Okanogan Counties, pick up a copy of my Day Hiking North Cascades 2nd edition (Mountaineers Books).
