Red Mountain Lookout - Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Considered one of the best viewpoints in the Southern Washington Cascades, Red Mountain has a long history. On its north slopes was an annual meeting destinations for local Native American tribes on a trade route that crossed the Cascades. It is the location of the Indian Race Track, a 10 foot by 2000 foot horse race track on a mountain meadow. More recently, the summit has been used for fire detection, with a current lookout structure still in place. The 360-degree view overlooks the Indian Heaven Wilderness to the north, Adams to the east, Hood to the south and Mount St. Helens to the west. The lookout is no longer used by the forest service to spot fires but may become a rental lookout in the near future.

There are two trails to get to the lookout but the easiest is to walk or mountain bike ride the access road. From Highway 14, take the Wind River Highway north from Carson to a right onto the Panther Creek Road. Follow until a right onto Forest Road 60, also known as Carson Guler Road. Follow Forest Road 60 for 1.5 miles to the gated FR6048 on the left. If you hit the PCT trailhead, you went too far. It is paved until the last 1.5 miles which becomes good gravel.

Red Mountain Lookout

In 1910, the Forest Supervisor H.O. Stabler stated that Red Mountain was "unquestionably the best lookout point" in the Columbia National Forest (later named Gifford Pinchot National Forest). The 1912 Forest Service map shows the mountain as a lookout. The first structure was reported to be a 8x8 foot cedar frame cab in 1913. It was replaced by a cupola cabin around 1919. In 1935 it was replaced by an L-4 cab and a garage nearby. The garage was converted to living quarters in 1942 when the lookout was used for the Aircraft Warning Service during World War II. In 1959, the present 10 foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab was constructed. In December 2006, a winter storm blew the roof off collapsing the cabin walls. Efforts began the following year to restore the lookout by Matt Haldeman, a Vancouver-area custom home builder. They re-erected the walls and installed a new roof to protect it during the winter of 2007 until further restoration could take place. Next, a volunteer team of 13 persons from Passport in Time restored the lookout and garage over a two week period in 2010. They replaced interior walls and flooring, installed roof coating, repaired the catwalk, and painted. The lookout is the only fire lookout still standing in Skamania County. Other facilities on the mountain include the Skamania County Sheriff's Department radio communications, so don't expect the gate to ever open.