Elevation: 5,560 feet
Sunset Park Lookout Site
Former Washington Fire Lookouts
Hiking the Wonderland Trail through Sunset Park is a bit of a disappointment, but get above the trail to the Sunset Park lookout site and you have some amazing terrain to explore. A few different abandoned trails will get you there. The site once had a 14 x 20 foot flat-roofed frame cabin with second story cupola. It was built in 1948. The site replaced the Colonnade lookout 1,200 feet up the same ridge. Sunset Park lookout was abandoned in the 1960's and destroyed in 1973. Squatters started living in the structure near the end so the park service had it destroyed.
From the Sunset Park Patrol Cabin, take the Wonderland Trail south as it climbs uphill. Follow for under a half mile until the grade levels out and starts to drop. As you round a corner, look for an old way trail on your left. This is the old hiker trail to access the lookout. Another stock trail exists further south as well.
Access
Sunset Park Patrol Cabin
Wonderland Trail
Looking down at the Golden Lakes near the Patrol Cabin
Crossing the North and South Mowich Rivers always sucks - bridges never last
Looking south from Sunset Park lookout site
Mt. Rainier from Sunset Park lookout site
The lookout site
View to the SE blocked by the ridge that holds the old horse trail to the site
Lone wire remains at the site
Zoom to the Colonnade site from the Sunset Park site
Found a tea pot about 80 feet down the hillside
Just a few minutes up the hillside from the Sunset Park lookout site is the Sunset Benchmark where views like this can be found. Keep following the ridge on the right to the first major highpoint and find yourself at the Colonnade lookout site.....
Sunset Park lookout in 1955
1956 Mountaineers trip report
A better view of where the lookout stood, in the center of this photo at end of point.