Started from the North Fork Sauk Trailhead. I was pleased to see a sign saying WTA was working on the trail. Unfortunately, they were working on the N Fork Sauk Trail and not the Red Mountain Lookout Trail.
On the Lookout Trail there are a number of blowdowns. Some of them are quite large diameter. The first of these is not far up the trail from the TH. They seem to be recent, since the paths around them are not obvious or worn in yet. Blowdowns continue up the short (1 mile) trip to the former lookout site. At about 0.87 miles a rootball from a fallen tree has damaged the trail tread - it is easy to get through now but will deteriorate if not repaired soon.
The views from the former lookout side were stunning on the beautiful sunny day that I was there. They more than made up for the six miles of horrible road conditions on FR 49 required to access the trail.
I continued up the trail for a short distance but turned around at the scrambly section as I had other places to be later in the day.
Overall - another great day in the mountains.
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