Spruce Mtn Fire Lookout Tower

We spent one night here and had a fantastic experience. The tower was clean and well maintained, although we did find a couple of spiders (which is to be expected in a remote lookout). One of our biggest concerns was whether other visitors would interrupt our stay, but we had complete privacy the entire night.

The rope pulley for hauling gear up to the tower was incredibly useful. The only minor issue was that the padlock on the tower was a little difficult to unlock. We also got a flat tire on the dirt road leading out, so I'd definitely recommend bringing a good spare tire and being prepared for the drive.

We experienced a strong windstorm overnight, and while the tower gently swayed, it actually added to the adventure and we always felt safe. Overall, it was a unique and memorable stay with incredible views. We'd absolutely recommend it to anyone looking for a one-of-a-kind overnight experience.

Amazing place. We had so much fun. Quick Tip: the lock for the tower door is a bit fussy. Once you enter the combo, you need to push it in, then pull to release. We almost had to abort our trip after trying unsuccessfully to unlock it for about 15mins...it was only out of desperate frustration that we discovered that push/pull technique is what unlocks it...good luck!

This is a beautiful spot with 360 degree views. The directions for finding it were not clear. The turnoff was not
7 miles in but about 5.8. We were not aware of a sign on the right side which is back a ways from the forest service road. Took some back and forthing to find it. The lock on the gate and the trapdoor worked fine. We mostly stayed
in the lookout reading, napping and enjoying the lightening, wind and rain. The stairs are narrow and steep and at
this altitude takes a bit of time to climb.

The place was clean and rodent free. Beds were comfortable and the stove and lights worked fine. Like most pit
toilets this one could have used some attention. I am alarmed lately at the dearth of insects and birds. Only five
species of birds. Ground squirrels are abundant. I have found this to be true throughout the forested west. Fire, bark beetles draught and intense logging have not doubt played majors roles in the biota crashing.

We are happy that rec.gov are still offering this sort of property.

Beautiful sights, very clean tower with good amenities, very good firepits on the ground for cooking. Close to places to go like Rob Roy Lake, which was fun for my dog to swim in, a little cold for my taste but it was about him swimming. Up in the tower I had a constant breeze, and it was much cooler then on the ground and no fly's. Easy to find firewood in the area for fires. Outhouse was clean and very usable. Sound of the nights were awesome to hear, night stars in the sky were awesome. Only negative item was every day and near evenings had visitors pull up to the gate wanting to enter and see the tower, even a couple wanting to spend the night in the tower. It was bearable because of the great site.

If you come into staying here knowing you will end up with other people interested in the tower and that it is in the middle of an area heavily used by UTVs/motorcycles, you'll have a great experience here. We knew this coming in, but apparently the camper prior to us had to call the Sheriff due to conflicts with others that had not reserved the site (loved the log book where you can leave messages/notes about your stay!) This is not a "private, peaceful" place to stay if you are looking for complete isolation.

That being said, we loved our stay. The pulley lift is awesome to not carry all your gear up several flights of steep stairs. Make sure you open the small windows when you arrive as the tower can get hot and stuffy, and if you leave the door open you'll be in a cloud of bugs. Beds were comfortable (we just used our backpacking pads and bags on top of them), and the propane lighting at night was great - we played a board game before bed time. Restroom was clean - make sure you use it before bed or you're gonna get a workout in during the middle of the night climbing stairs!

Was great to have a combo code lock at the top of the stairs so "visitors" could not access our stuff, we even allowed a couple with their grandkids to climb up the flights of stairs to see the view as we made dinner at the picnic table, knowing they could not get to our space in the tower made everyone happy.

Shore fished Lake Owen and Rob Roy over our three days here, if you find a good shoreline on one of the fingers of Rob Roy you can have good privacy and be away from the roads - bring your hammocks as there are great trees to just chill in when you are not fishing or exploring.

Great experience provided by the USFS, it was very cool to see the fire finder still in the middle of the tower and there is the old "Firefighter's Guide" that explains how staff would use it to locate fires - very fun to read through.

Glad we chose to try this out and will try to be back in the future!