11 miles (or 13 by Chris’s watch)
Mt Henry Lookout
4196 ft elevation gain
PNT mile 170

We have passed by 3 old fire lookouts and for one reason or another we didn’t or couldn’t stay in them. Mt Henry lookout was only 11 miles away. It’s old and not maintained but lots of PNT hikers stay there. Maybe our standards aren’t as high. We hoped this one would work out. And it did.

That’s Mt Henry in the distance.

We got here just in time. No one else was here. It was windy and the skies were darkening. We made an all out effort on firewood gathering. It’s amazing how much dead wood was around. Then it started to hail. Horizontally. Emma started a fire in the cast iron stove. It didn’t take long to heat the place up. There was a saw and Chris worked up a sweat cutting up the long pieces. This lookout is old but in remarkable shape for not being maintained. Unfortunately only one shutter could be propped open so we didn’t have a 360 degree view from inside.

It’s a perfect cold day to stay inside. There is a spring 1/2 mile from the top. We filled up on the way up and Chris and Emma went down for more later.

Hot tea. Hot food. Spectacular views. Roaring fire. Great company. Life is Grand. And even though I only hiked 11 miles it feels like a full day.