Great view and area as you would expect in a lookout. As some of the previous reviews mentioned there is an ongoing roof leak that needs to be delt with. The vaulted toilet is very near capacity. I would refrain from using the wood stove in the lookout as the stove pipe is being held together with bailing wire.

Great view and area as you would expect in a lookout. As some of the previous reviews mentioned there is an ongoing roof leak that needs to be delt with. The vaulted toilet is very near capacity. I would refrain from using the wood stove in the lookout as the stove pipe is being held together with bailing wire.

Great view and area as you would expect in a lookout. As some of the previous reviews mentioned there is an ongoing roof leak that needs to be delt with. The vaulted toilet is very near capacity. I would refrain from using the wood stove in the lookout as the stove pipe is being held together with bailing wire.

I have a broad range of lookouts with which to compare one to the other. Unfortunately Garver was less than stellar in this sense. A relatively minor issue, but worth mentioning, is that the deck door does not have a counterbalance - you must lift the entire weight of it until it latches in place. Not a huge deal merely inconvenient for most everyone. A quarter of the cabin (opposite the wood stove) was soaking wet from a persistently leaking roof. One of the beds was placed directly below the more aggressive leak. I happened to be bagging this particular lookout solo, so it's not as if I was going to get wet, but the bare minimum you should expect from staying in a lookout is a solid shelter as it is virtually 1 step above primitive camping in most cases. The windows were all intact however, the door functioned perfectly, and there were all the basic necessities left by other campers. Sadly the Osborne Fire Finder was removed. The vault toilet was... good grief, it was horrible. IT was piled within a foot of the toilet seat, no exaggeration. These issues can be corrected - I get that. The reality, however, is that they did need dealt with during my stay. All that being said, I won't deny the vistas were completely stunning. I was fortunate to have reserved a night after a series of strong rains which knocked a significant amount of smoke down. It wasn't completely clear, but most of the disruption to the views was caused by clouds rather than smoke. The wind was gusting quite hard, but all the windows were sealed quite well. Very little sway to the tower at all. Although I have stayed in worse this one suffered from some temporary (likely attributable to it being so close to the end of rental season) issues.

I have a broad range of lookouts with which to compare one to the other. Unfortunately Garver was less than stellar in this sense. A relatively minor issue, but worth mentioning, is that the deck door does not have a counterbalance - you must lift the entire weight of it until it latches in place. Not a huge deal merely inconvenient for most everyone. A quarter of the cabin (opposite the wood stove) was soaking wet from a persistently leaking roof. One of the beds was placed directly below the more aggressive leak. I happened to be bagging this particular lookout solo, so it's not as if I was going to get wet, but the bare minimum you should expect from staying in a lookout is a solid shelter as it is virtually 1 step above primitive camping in most cases. The windows were all intact however, the door functioned perfectly, and there were all the basic necessities left by other campers. Sadly the Osborne Fire Finder was removed. The vault toilet was... good grief, it was horrible. IT was piled within a foot of the toilet seat, no exaggeration. These issues can be corrected - I get that. The reality, however, is that they did need dealt with during my stay. All that being said, I won't deny the vistas were completely stunning. I was fortunate to have reserved a night after a series of strong rains which knocked a significant amount of smoke down. It wasn't completely clear, but most of the disruption to the views was caused by clouds rather than smoke. The wind was gusting quite hard, but all the windows were sealed quite well. Very little sway to the tower at all. Although I have stayed in worse this one suffered from some temporary (likely attributable to it being so close to the end of rental season) issues.

I have a broad range of lookouts with which to compare one to the other. Unfortunately Garver was less than stellar in this sense. A relatively minor issue, but worth mentioning, is that the deck door does not have a counterbalance - you must lift the entire weight of it until it latches in place. Not a huge deal merely inconvenient for most everyone. A quarter of the cabin (opposite the wood stove) was soaking wet from a persistently leaking roof. One of the beds was placed directly below the more aggressive leak. I happened to be bagging this particular lookout solo, so it's not as if I was going to get wet, but the bare minimum you should expect from staying in a lookout is a solid shelter as it is virtually 1 step above primitive camping in most cases. The windows were all intact however, the door functioned perfectly, and there were all the basic necessities left by other campers. Sadly the Osborne Fire Finder was removed. The vault toilet was... good grief, it was horrible. IT was piled within a foot of the toilet seat, no exaggeration. These issues can be corrected - I get that. The reality, however, is that they did need dealt with during my stay. All that being said, I won't deny the vistas were completely stunning. I was fortunate to have reserved a night after a series of strong rains which knocked a significant amount of smoke down. It wasn't completely clear, but most of the disruption to the views was caused by clouds rather than smoke. The wind was gusting quite hard, but all the windows were sealed quite well. Very little sway to the tower at all. Although I have stayed in worse this one suffered from some temporary (likely attributable to it being so close to the end of rental season) issues.