Devil's Peak

Devil's Peak tower.

Fire lookout towers are pretty much a thing of the past.  During the depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps built many, and there were more than 8,000 in the US.  For much of the 20th century, they were on the forefront of forest fire detection.  Today there are few that are still staffed; fire detection is more often done by airplane and helicopter.  One that is still standing is at Devil's Peak in Mt. Hood National Forest near the popular Trillium Lake.  It is no longer used by the Forest Service and is maintained by volunteers, who keep it open for visitors.  It's only an easy mile and a half from the trailhead to the fire tower, and nearby is Kinzel Lake which is also neat to explore.  Kinzel Lake has a vast population of roundleaf sundew plants, carnivorous plants that trap insects in sticky drops of dew and slowly digest them.  You would expect an easy, family friendly hike with such cool things to see to be super popular. But we had the trailhead completely to ourselves on a summer weekend!  We did see another hiker at the fire tower, which can be reached from other, longer trails.  So what's the catch?  You can only reach the trailhead by traveling down a really awful road which has not been maintained for many years.  It took us an hour to travel the 9 miles down this road, and reminded us of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Except that ride is mercifully over in just a few minutes!  If you don't have a high clearance vehicle and plenty of time, it's definitely  a bad idea!  The lookout tower is quite interesting and naturally has a glorious view.  It is still furnished, and it seems people camp in it on a first come, first served basis.   Next time we'll be sure to bring something for tired hikers to enjoy, to add to the stock of games, nonperishable food, and strange artwork.   Kinzel Lake proved to have many wildflowers we'd never seen before and carpets of weird sundews that utterly fascinated Jasper. 

A type of stonecrop.  Photo by Jasper. 

Gnome plants, rare parasitic plants that do not photosynthesize.   Photo by Jasper.

Prince's pine. 

Alpine buckwheat.

Tiger lily.

Menzies' pipsissewa.

White-veined wintergreen.

White campion.

Stonecrop.

One-sided wintergreen.

Washington lily.

Pinesap.  This is another parasitic plant that does not photosynthesize.  

Artwork left to brighten the fire tower.

Inside the fire tower. 

View from the fire tower.  When it was in use, the nearest trees would have been cut for an unobstructed view.

Red columbine.

Yarrow and horsefly.

Penstemon. 

Pussytoes with a seven spotted ladybug.

Lupine.

Pinedrops. Also a parasitic plant that does not photosynthesize. 

Maple seed.

Desert parsley?

Pinesap.

White veined wintergreen.

Pinedrops.

Kinzel Lake.

Rough-skinned newt. 

Fringed grass of Parnassus.

Marsh cinquefoil

Great burnet. 

Roundleaf sundew.  Photo by Jasper.

  Photo by Jasper.

Roundleaf sundew.  Photo by Jasper.

 Jasper taking photos of the roundleaf sundews.

Roundleaf sundew.

Traces of rhododendrons, an early spring flower, were still to be found.

Wild strawberry.  Photo by Jasper.

King's scepter gentian.

Great burnet. 

Marsh cinquefoil.

Lupine.

Great burnet.

King's scepter gentian.