A snowy hike to Glacier National Park's Mount Brown lookout
Last year, around mid-November, we were stuck in the same scenario: almost no snow.
Hiker friend Stimson Dolesh and I decided to try our luck at reaching Mount Brown lookout. Although the Sperry Trail melted, we hit deep snow and an earlier winter storm, forcing us to turn around. This year, we came back for redemption.
Driving in, it felt almost eerie. We saw nobody on the Sun Road, and we were the first to park at Lake McDonald Lodge. The Sperry Trail possesses a different energy than other trails in the park. Rather than wide open alpine spaces, the tall ancient cedar trees make conversation easy: nothing needs to be said at all. Remarkably, these giants were preserved during the Sprague Fire in 2017.
We swiftly arrived at the junction with the lookout trail, but the next few miles were slow going. A recent windstorm had left several trees lying across the steepest sections of the trail. Frost clusters clung to the beargrass as the rocky trail, suspended by ice crystals, crunched beneath our feet.
The snowline began around 6,200 feet, increasing to 2 feet deep with 3-foot drifts. We were glad we left our snowshoes at the car; however, as we weren’t postholing, we even went in running shoes.
Five hundred feet from the lookout, we were greeted with multiple sets of goat tracks and a very frozen pit toilet sign.
We reached the lookout around noon, in a little over two hours. It sits at 7,487 feet.
Glacier once had 17 fire lookouts, but most were either destroyed or replaced by more practical means, such as aerial surveillance. Now, only eight remain: these include Huckleberry, Apgar, Numa Ridge, Scalplock, Loneman, Mount Brown, Porcupine (which has always been on my bucket list), and Heaven’s Peak.
Built in 1928, the Mount Brown fire lookout appears identical to other lookouts in the park, partially because it is. According to the National Register of Historic Places, “The Mount Brown fire lookout is a two-story, frame structure with clapboard siding, measuring 196 square feet on each of its two floors…HABS recorded this lookout as a standard, wood-frame, 14-by-14-foot house set on a 10-foot tower with a catwalk.” They also noted that the original shingles were made of cedar.
The “lookout look” was initially designed by the Forest Service and underwent several modifications in collaboration with Park Service engineers until it produced the model we see today.
Of course, there are a few exceptions to this, including Swiftcurrent lookout, explicitly built to withstand powerful winds. Swiftcurrent is the highest place you can access by trail in Glacier National Park. The other exceptions are Heaven’s Peak and Red Eagle Lookout.
I found Red Eagle Lookout’s design particularly interesting. Archived photos show a 60-foot steel tower that no one could sleep in. But it could be moved to and from locations until it was dismantled in 1986.
Mount Brown lookout was no longer staffed full-time in 1971, though some volunteers have been allowed to use it on occasion while conducting surveys in the area.
We hunkered down on the north side of the lookout, attempting to dodge the winds that ripped off Lake McDonald. I took photos for about 10 minutes, until my hands (and my subject) were numb from the cold. We’d wait behind the only non-frozen wall, discussing the shot, run out into the howling wind, I’d snap the picture, then sprint back to shelter. We headed out shortly thereafter, agreeing it wasn’t a suitable place to have lunch.
Besides two impressive mule deer bucks and an unwavering doe, we saw two other parties on the day.
The snow ghosts tipped their curly white hats goodbye as we descended, pausing for lunch at the junction.
