Lone Butte Panoramic Site
Lone Butte is located just west of Indian Heaven Wilderness with nearly 1,000 feet of prominence. Panoramic images were taken on September 17, 1937. At that time, most of the mountain had been burned. I would imagine that during fire outbreaks, observers had been sent to the summit to scan for fire and that is why the photographic team was sent there.
WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Fire Lookouts
Site Elevation: 4,780 feet
Hiking Distance: Under a half mile of off trail
Elevation Gain: 700 feet to 1,000 feet
Access: Good gravel road to the base
Southeast
North
Southwest
Access:
A road traverses the mountain on the south side to the Lone Butte Quarry. This road is overgrowing and has bad ruts near the beginning. It progressively gets better until the mine. One could leave this road at any point or start at the saddle to the SE before even starting the road. To get to the saddle, just take the nice gravel road from the Lone Butte Sno-Park (FR 30)
Route:
Not sure what the best route would be. I went up the south face off the mine road (shown on maps). The brush was bad at first but got better with elevation. The north side has the best forest for climbing but no roads are on that side.
View west from the summit
Looking southeast from the summit
Looking southwest from the summit with Mt. Hood on the left
Looking North with Mt. Rainier in distance
Looking East to Mt. Adams
Lone Butte from the West on Burnt Peak Lookout in 1936
Lone Butte from the East on Bird Mountain in 1937
Lone Butte Quarry in 2020
Possibly the youngest person to the summit of Lone Butte
My access in 2020