Beautiful lookout overall however, people seem to forget that if you pack it in, you need to pack it out!!!!!!!! Spent the majority of my arrival cleaning up trash around the lookout- used paper plates, candy wrappers, skewers, bottles, cans, litter, etc thrown everywhere. Disgusting. Inside the pit toilet was actually pristine compared to the surroundings. Inside the lookout… well, I was greeted by more trash and a nest filled with four baby mice inside the tall wooden cabinet. A previous review advised of a nest but no observation of mice. A fuller sized mouse arrived a bit later on the catwalk as I was cleaning the inside of the lookout. You really can’t blame the family of mice for shacking up in the lookout since they had a vast array of trash to feast from. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my day and evening picking up crap that other people didn’t want to properly dispose and I wasn’t going to attempt to relocate the mouse family. As my frustration grew, I grabbed some photos of Shasta and Crags, hopped in my 4x4 and drove off into the sunset.

Really nice lookout, amazing views. Very bare bones lookout, two metal-framed twin beds with very old vinyl spring mattresses, one table, three chairs (one in disrepair) a sideboard and a cupboard. Despite information on the USFS website this lookout does NOT have a wood burning stove but DOES have an outdoor fire pit. At the time of our reservation (early June) they were in low fire danger so fires were allowed outside in the pit but we never ended up having one due to evening winds. The road up wasn't as bad as some have expressed (made it up just fine in a RAV4) but there may have been recent roadwork due to all the logging that has happened on the way up. Cleaning products are available in the cabinet (windex, pine-sol, disinfectants) and while we saw no evidence of active rodents the drawers of the cabinet had a nest and lots of mouse feces in the drawers/cupboards. Decent pit toilet, though the toilet is not secured to the floor so be careful! Low on TP, bring your own! We did a day hike at Castle Crags, would recommend.

Amazing experience even though the smoke from some of the wildfires moved in for a couple days, still I would highly recommend staying here.

Loved being here again! Sweet Girard Ridge Lookout, love you so much. Unfortunately we lost the view of Shasta and Castle Crags entirely as they were shrouded in smokey haze. We also had an encounter with a mouse in the cabin. So cute but.....yikes. The mouse disappeared into a hole in the floor below the door hinge. Found the remains of the Girard Hill lookout and telephone line poles on butte to ESE of the lookout. This predated the Girard Ridge Lookout and is amazing that there is any remains of it here. Left the lookout a day early due to smokey conditions. Sorry for all of Northern Cal and Southern Oregon, so smokey. Stay safe and enjoy this gem!

Very cool look out. It was really nice how secluded it was. The only negative I would say is that it would be nice if someone would take care of those hornets nest‘s that are all along the deck underneath. Other than that is was a great stay

Beautiful views, very hot and lots of bees. Be prepared with lots of water and any battery operated fans. Overall a great experience though.