Bald Butte Lookout (fremont-winema National Forest, Or)

Snow snow snow, colors, photography! Love it!

Long beautiful well kept trail , with lake next to trail. Did not see the lake going up the trail, but it showed its self on the way back down .

We use the dump station. Clean and easy.

Bucket list experience

As the last 2 reviewers said, it needs some work. I would start with putting screening up at the roof/wall connection. The outhouse desperately needs a new door handle to keep the door shut. We had our own stove, so didn't light the one there and I put new mantles on the lights and they worked great. You have to push in the lever and then up to light. Didn't need the heater as the weather was a cool mid 60s and felt really good after all the heat in Central Oregon.
We hiked the 450 road to the west for a mile+, went down to the North Fork Sprague River and checked that out, along with the Ingram Cabin that was in the area. We also had a great glass of wine on the picnic table and watched a wonderful sunset. So there were some positives to the trip of 14th-16th of July. One more positive were the brand new cots (2) left there, still in the box. They were pretty comfy but I would suggest some padding as they were firm.
On the not so good side, the flies that greeted us when we opened the door, hundreds dead on the floor and a few still buzzing around. I took insect spray so I got rid of the flying ones and then swept up everything. I would suggest more sticky fly paper if you go and maybe a new plastic tablecloth for the table, I left the insect spray for the next guests. They really weren't bothersome after that, thankfully.

We use the dump station. Clean and easy. Debit card 12.00$ fresh drinking water and we’re off camping with fresh holding tanks.

Needs some work.

Horrible… just horrible. The road is almost impassable and the lookout needs major work. Had two nights and stayed a few hours and decided to leave. This lookout should be shut down and not rentable

We were the last ones to stay in the lookout for the 2023 season. It was a great little hangout for our family after the eclipse!

We had a relative stay in 2017, and the wear on the structure is very evident. Many of the shutters have broken off, two window panes are in bad shape, the "indoor" door handles on both the lookout and bathroom are falling off, one of the two propane lights doesn't work, and both mantles were broken. The oven portion of the stove also wouldn't light, and one of the two cots is duct-taped together.

Fantastic stay. Way better than expected!
We took 3 different roads to get there and out and all were in decent condition (mostly paved), the very last leg up top would be challenging for low-clearance vehicles. Washed out spots, washboard spots. Google Maps was a great option.
The cabin was clean and well stocked (previous guests had left extra water, flashlights, games, bug spray, and TP). A sweep was needed as the trapped bugs had not survived the heat. The evening was windy so opening the windows got rid of unwanted bug visitors. I took pictures of the cabin and the interior of the cabinets on the Google listing if anyone's curious to see what they look like. Someone had posted a video there, which was really helpful in knowing what to expect and what to bring.
The propane was shut in 3 different spots (2 inside, 1 outside). It was easy enough to open it and make it work. We closed it in the spot closest to the stove when we left (against the recommendations posted) because there was a faint gas smell when not shut.
The skies were clear and perfect for stargazing (Perseid meteor shower). The nights were quite windy but the cabin remained surprisingly pretty quiet).