Park Butte — Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018

After relying on WTA trip reports over the years, I felt compelled to contribute after a beautiful yet bizarre overnight to the Park Butte Lookout.

We set off kid free at around 10 am, hoping to have a shot at sleeping in the Lookout. It was quite hot right away, but no bugs to speak of. Were happy to get over the creek and back into the trees to escape the sun. Of course we were constant eyeing the day hikers who overtook us, wanting to stay a step ahead of the backpackers.

Lucky for us we were the first backpackers up. An hour later another nice couple showed up and we offered them the floor, as they seemed pretty bummed to miss out on the Lookout. Two other groups came and left to camp at Cathedral.

The afternoon was quiet, with our new friends taking a nap and ourselves kicking back to read and watch the smoke from the Cougar Creek Fire. It was strange to consider how that was the original purpose of the structure - to watch for fires. The smoke changed rapidly and it made us very curious to hear what had changed when we got back.

Around 4:00 things got weird. A group arrived hoping to use the Lookout with a very different demeanor. Some members of this group had jobs in social media, but were vague about exactly what. At any rate, the vibe was killed pretty quick as they pulled up chairs, pulled out their phones, and started watching youtube videos. One individual without service begged another to make his device a hotspot so that they could get online access as well. Definitely a mood killer.

We had a nice reprieve when they left to set up camp about 50 feet below. and have dinner. It's not a designated site, but pretty clear that it is frequently used as such. We had a nice time chatting as we ate with our new friends, and the sun began to set just north of the Sisters range. I never knew that you could see Semiahmoo Spit from the Lookout! Now I want to use a telescope on the spit so I can try to spot the lookout on a clear day. I was contemplating this and enjoying the peace of the moment when Team Instagram returned. One member of the group struck up a pose on the railing and began compulsively tossing her hair as another snapped away. "Excuse me," the photographer asked, "would you mind sliding a foot down that way?" Irked as I was, I was too astonished to do anything but comply!

Until the sun had set, they circled around us, moving things and posing for their perfect shots to post on Instagram. Total buzzkill. I went to asleep a little annoyed but was able to laugh it off.

We woke up around 1:00 to watch some of the meteor shower. I know we were a few days early, but we still caught some. 20 minutes of stargazing was all we had in us, and we promptly fell back asleep.

Just before 6:00 I awoke to a large banging noise. It seems that Team Instagram had come back to the Lookout and were moving the storm door of the Lookout around to get it out of their pre-sunrise photos. They had commented that on it's positioning the day before and I guess the pictures were better without it. I learned that when someone is walking around the outside of the lookout, you definitely hear it inside! In principal I was pretty furious. Really, how can you be so inconsiderate of others? Practically, I have to admit that I woke up just in time to catch the sunrise with my wife, from our bed. It was incredible.

Making breakfast was a little tricky, because as I was trying to boil water Team Instagram was trying to boil water AND get the perfect photo of the process of boiling water. It made me wonder if they were taking pictures of specific sponsored products as part of their job. Far be it from me to interfere with commerce!

We packed up shortly after breakfast and made it to the car around 10. Way more folks heading up for the Lookout on Wednesday. Some were going to get their before noon and still miss out.

I will say that despite the strangeness of technology in this remote place, it could never detract from the beauty of this hike so much that I wouldn't love it. What an incredible place. I love being sandwiched between Baker and the Sisters, looking right down the Middle Fork of the Nooksack.

On the hike we were discussing whether this kind of technological presence was the new normal, or just an anomaly of an experience. We heard some folks behind us having an animated conversation, really get into it the way people should as they walk together in the wild. We stepped aside to let them pass. Mouths closed and heads down, they were listening to a podcast.

Cheers,

Tommy

P.S. Some Notes about the Lookout Structure

- Got quite toasty at night!

- No problem with mice, thanks all for keeping it clean.

- We tried putting up all the storm shutters, but were missing quite a few nuts to go with their accompanying bolts. I almost lost one myself. We put up 4 of the remaining 6 (East stays open all summer), but we had to get creative. If anybody wants to hit up the hardware store before they go up again...