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!

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!

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.

This was such a great experience. The drive up was super easy and the gate and sign was helpful in keeping hikers without a reservation out. The tower is in excellent shape. It was super clean and well stocked up toilet paper, a basin to wash dishes, pots, plates, cleaning supplies, etc (we brought our own). Stove top worked great for making a meal. We had 2 bars of Verizon cell service and we were able to stream a World Cup game. We brought our own string lights and made it cozy. The pulley system came in handy and made getting things up/down really easy, especially water. Overall a great experience and hopefully we can get lucky enough to stay again!

Spruce mountain will always have my heart. We stayed more often when I was a kid and enjoyed lots of good times. After years and years of trying, I got a cancellation spot! My husband and I stayed for two nights and had snow, rain, beautiful skies and we were high enough to be up in the clouds and fog. The snow night was pretty chilly! We didn’t care though because the next morning the sun peeked over Sheep Mountain and the world was clear and beautiful with a fresh snowfall. If you can get a reservation, DO IT. You’ll be hooked.

Spruce mountain will always have my heart. We stayed more often when I was a kid and enjoyed lots of good times. After years and years of trying, I got a cancellation spot! My husband and I stayed for two nights and had snow, rain, beautiful skies and we were high enough to be up in the clouds and fog. The snow night was pretty chilly! We didn’t care though because the next morning the sun peeked over Sheep Mountain and the world was clear and beautiful with a fresh snowfall. If you can get a reservation, DO IT. You’ll be hooked.

Spruce mountain will always have my heart. We stayed more often when I was a kid and enjoyed lots of good times. After years and years of trying, I got a cancellation spot! My husband and I stayed for two nights and had snow, rain, beautiful skies and we were high enough to be up in the clouds and fog. The snow night was pretty chilly! We didn’t care though because the next morning the sun peeked over Sheep Mountain and the world was clear and beautiful with a fresh snowfall. If you can get a reservation, DO IT. You’ll be hooked.

A simply unique "campsite".

A simply unique "campsite".

A simply unique "campsite".