Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain Fire Lookout

The climb almost killed all of us. The road to the parking spot almost killed our car. The shooting range at the parking spot never stops. The constant gunfire is terrifying. The tower is over run with mice. The view is nice but the upstairs portion is so dangerous with no attention to building codes or safety. Incredibly cold at night and incredibly hot in the morning as the sun comes up. No water and barely enough plates/bowls and silverware for the 4 of us. The trap door to access the upper floor is so heavy it took all of us to lift it. The mattresses are a joke and the upstairs beds creak so loudly nobody could get any sleep. We woke up to about a dozen hikers all just gathered around our front door and even some of them came upstairs for a look around even though it was clear we were staying there.

This experience had the opportunity to be pretty incredible. Unfortunately, our hope for a remote new experience with our family was muted by people everywhere. I mean everywhere. It started with my husband and daughter waking up to 6 ppl stomping up the stairs at 4:30am to watch the sunrise. They ignored three separate signs on the hike up that stated the fire lookout was occupied and to respect tenants privacy. After that, people kept coming the entire day, continuing to ignore all the signs. We had to monitor people trying to come up to the lookout and go into the bottom cabin the entire day. Apparently, the trail up to the fire lookout is a well trafficked one, yet no where on the website description does it state this. We felt like we were in a fish bowl our entire stay, and actually decided not to stay a 2nd night because we were exhausted just trying to manage all of the people. I recognize that holidays and weekends are busy, but this was insane and we had absolutely no privacy. Even in the base cabin I was fixing food looking out the window and a drone kept peeking in trying to see the inside of our cabin area. Going forward, I would suggest someone rewrite the description for this place and paint an accurate picture of what you will encounter if staying on a weekend. While we were able to snap some pretty incredible photos as the sun set; unfortunately, we will never book this again.

This experience had the opportunity to be pretty incredible. Unfortunately, our hope for a remote new experience with our family was muted by people everywhere. I mean everywhere. It started with my husband and daughter waking up to 6 ppl stomping up the stairs at 4:30am to watch the sunrise. They ignored three separate signs on the hike up that stated the fire lookout was occupied and to respect tenants privacy. After that, people kept coming the entire day, continuing to ignore all the signs. We had to monitor people trying to come up to the lookout and go into the bottom cabin the entire day. Apparently, the trail up to the fire lookout is a well trafficked one, yet no where on the website description does it state this. We felt like we were in a fish bowl our entire stay, and actually decided not to stay a 2nd night because we were exhausted just trying to manage all of the people. I recognize that holidays and weekends are busy, but this was insane and we had absolutely no privacy. Even in the base cabin I was fixing food looking out the window and a drone kept peeking in trying to see the inside of our cabin area. Going forward, I would suggest someone rewrite the description for this place and paint an accurate picture of what you will encounter if staying on a weekend. While we were able to snap some pretty incredible photos as the sun set; unfortunately, we will never book this again.

The first floor bunk area smells like death. I couldn’t imagine staying downstairs. If you have more than two people bring something to sleep on and place it upstairs. I’d rather sleep on the floor upstairs than below. The lookout is grand and worth the experience. Watch out for the moths. They literally come out of the walls. We stuffed a few holes but they kept coming. 😂

The first floor bunk area smells like death. I couldn’t imagine staying downstairs. If you have more than two people bring something to sleep on and place it upstairs. I’d rather sleep on the floor upstairs than below. The lookout is grand and worth the experience. Watch out for the moths. They literally come out of the walls. We stuffed a few holes but they kept coming. 😂

Great Mid-May stay stay here. Nice dry road on the way up, some steeper sections but not terrible. Only saw 2 young guys on their way up to the lookout. They were super polite and asked if they could come up for pics. Not a soul in sight all evening and morning the next day. Clouds set in about 7 laying 3-4 inches of spring snow before it let up revealing the city over all the snow covered trees. Most beautiful sight! We woke up to frozen windows and about 18 inches of fresh snow. We cleaned, swept, wiped down and began our trek down. We had parked just below the gate pointed down, had no issues driving out after we got down. Can’t wait to come back!!!!

Great Mid-May stay stay here. Nice dry road on the way up, some steeper sections but not terrible. Only saw 2 young guys on their way up to the lookout. They were super polite and asked if they could come up for pics. Not a soul in sight all evening and morning the next day. Clouds set in about 7 laying 3-4 inches of spring snow before it let up revealing the city over all the snow covered trees. Most beautiful sight! We woke up to frozen windows and about 18 inches of fresh snow. We cleaned, swept, wiped down and began our trek down. We had parked just below the gate pointed down, had no issues driving out after we got down. Can’t wait to come back!!!!

Amazing.

Amazing.

Couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon/morning. Slept warm all night and woke up above the clouds. Set off the fire alarm while cooking my steak, recommended to keep the door open while cooking!