Miners Ridge Lookout - Glacier Peak Wilderness

One of Washington’s most remote and scenic standing lookouts is Miners Ridge in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. To reach the lookout requires a long 15 mile hike with a 3,500 climb of elevation the last several miles.

Drive Highway 530 north from Darrington or south from Highway 20 near Rockport. Turn east on FR 26 (Suiattle River Road) and drive to the end of the road. The last several miles are good gravel.

Follow the Suiattle River Trail 6.8 miles to the Pacific Crest Trail. Take the trail northbound and follow 3 miles to the Miners Ridge Trail. It climb 2.5 miles up switchbacks to another trail split. Left is to Miners Ridge, right is to Suiattle Pass. Go left climbing 2.2 more miles to the ridge-top and big views. Follow the ridge west a quarter mile to the lookout tower.

Around 1926, a 10 x 10 cedar shake cabin was erected.

In 1931, Al Brown packed in the lookout person, Glen Fairbanks, and his supplies to Miners Ridge. Glen was known for his cooking recipes he shared over the radio at night.

In 1932, the lookout was Andy Holland. Working the previous year at Circle Peak, Andy arrived at Miners Ridge on the last day in June 1932. His packer was Bill Moran who traveled the twenty-miles up the trail, unloaded a summers supply of provisions and left early the next morning. That next first day alone at the lookout was almost Andy Holands last day. He crawled out of bed, got to the telephone and called the Sauk Ranger Station explaining he had appendicitis. You can read about his ordeal in his book SWITCHBACKS. Andy devotes an entire chapter to his time at Miners Ridge since he worked there a total of 5 seasons.

In 1935, panorama photos taken by G.B.Clisby.

In 1938, a L-4 cab on a 20-foot ring connected tower was brought up to the site. The following March, a letter was sent to the company where it was purchased asking for them to please send instructions and plans for assembling so that the assembly of the structure may proceed.

In 1951, Suiattle district ranger Warren Pressentin was seriously injured around 8 p.m. one September evening when he fell through the trap door left open by a companion, falling about 30 feet to the rocky ground below. He was rendered unconscious and was thought to have internal injuries. At the lookout was Ed Green and Leonard Bacon, a carpenter, who had accompanied Pressentin to the lookout for the purpose of building a shelter there. After Pressentin's fall, Green and Bacon managed to get him back up to the lookout. He regained consciousness about midnight. The radio at the lookout was out of order, so Ed Green hiked out 13 miles to the road the next morning. A call was sent out for a helicopter to come in for the injured man. This call was answered by a coast guard helicopter piloted by Lt.Charles E. Mueller and Dr. Howard R. Terry. The helicopter was caught by cross winds as it was hovering over the site and crashed. Both pilots, Mueller and Terry were injured but able to walk. That evening, four smoke jumpers from the Chelan forest parachuted to the scene to help out. The next morning, eleven man from Darrington arrived. Pressentin was lowered from the tower with ropes and the 13-mile stretcher carry started. A relay was met on the trail to assist in the carry. At the end of the trail, the party was met by the Darrington ambulance, about 8 p.m., and Pressentin was taken to the Marine hospital at Seattle.

In 1953, the lookout was refurbished by Jack Welsh during the summer. The lookout is still used at times today for fire.