After an attack shattered years of meticulous work at Washington’s 5,685-foot High Rock Lookout, a community of dedicated volunteers is heading back up the trail to rebuild.
Volunteers began restoration efforts on the historic High Rock Fire Lookout in 2015 (Photo: Sand Mountain Society)
Published July 14, 2026 02:22PM
Just weeks before volunteers were set to complete the decade-long restoration of Washington’s High Rock Lookout, a 95-year-old fire lookout near Mount Rainier, vandals ruined their final push. Someone broke into the cabin and shattered its windows, kicked in a door, and tossed valuable material off of a cliff, leaving the restoration crew to pick up the pieces.
The 1.6-mile trail to the High Rock Lookout encompasses roughly 1,300 feet of gain, and is one of Washington’s most popular day hikes and offers views of Mount Rainier. In response to the destruction, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which manages the lookout, issued an emergency closure through the end of August. Vandalism on national forest land is a federal crime, and USFS law enforcement say they are investigating the incident.
“It’s really been heartbreaking for me,” restoration coordinator Don Allen told Outside. He’s led the High Rock Lookout efforts since 2015, spending his weekends at the summit.
High Rock Lookout is perched on a 5,685-foot pinnacle in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, making its restoration particularly precarious. Once used as a fire lookout, it was decommissioned and has since served as a popular hiking destination.
The USFS closure includes the following areas through August 23:
- NFS Trail #266 High Rock Trail in its entirety.
- High Rock Trailhead.
- Within 150 feet of the High Rock Lookout foundation and structure.
High Rock Fire Lookout by the Numbers
- The High Rock Fire Lookout was completed in 1931, making it 95 years old.
- The cabin sits on a 5,685-foot pinnacle.
- Hikers can reach the cabin by by a 1.6-mile hike over roughly 1,300 feet of elevation gain.
- Conservationists launched restoration efforts in 2015. In 2025, 146 volunteers spent roughly 6,700 hours of work.
- Vandals reportedly destroyed 67 of the lookout’s 180 window panes.
- High Rock Fire Lookout is one of four gable models in the state of Washington.
- Fewer than 15 of this design constructed before 1933 remain in the Pacific Northwest.
67 Broken Windows and a 600-Foot Drop
For Allen and his restoration crew, the vandalism turned a summer of refinishing touches into six weeks of emergency repairs—but volunteers say they aren’t giving up.
“This vandalism is such a huge setback,” Allen told Outside. “I can hardly describe to you how many volunteer hours went down the drain with that. And it’s not just that, but historic fabric from the original structure.” Allen is board president at the Sand Mountain Society, a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to preserving historic fire lookouts and natural resources in the Pacific Northwest.
Driving from Portland and hiking up to the lookout takes Allen more than four hours each way. Sixty-seven of the lookout’s 180 window panes were shattered, according to Oregon outlet The News Tribune. The front door was smashed in so badly it wouldn’t close. Tools, an extension ladder, a cement mixer, and the restored original tongue-and-groove ceiling boards were thrown off the nearby 600-foot cliff, KUOW reported. Volunteers later found the historic boards too damaged to use.
“It Made Me Cry”
Two hikers discovered the wreckage on June 11 and posted a video to the restoration project’s Facebook page, where it spread across the hiking communities. Sara Osburn, a Sand Mountain Society volunteer learned the news in a group text. She drove up at dawn for what was supposed to be a sunrise birthday hike with friends. It became a cleanup instead.
“It was pretty awful, but it was far worse to see it in person,” Osburn told Outside over the phone. Wreckage was strewn along the cliffside facing Mount Rainier, and the ground was covered in glass. “They just ripped everything apart.”
Osburn said she spent hours sweeping up the biggest shards. “It was bad,” she said. “It made me cry.”
Thousands of Volunteer Hours
Completed in 1931, the High Rock Lookout is a Great Depression-era structure. More than 8,000 fire lookouts once speckled high points across the country. But “almost every year we lose another historic lookout,” Rick McClure, Sand Mountain Society board member and retired USFS archaeologist, told Outside. “This is part of American history.”
By 2017, rot had left the building beyond repair. High Rock has proved to be the most complicated restoration project he’s ever worked on, said McClure. Everything reaches the summit on someone’s back or by helicopter, and “there is no flat ground, so crews built platforms just to sleep and set up their tools.”
In 2025, volunteers replaced the summit foundation and hauled the restored structure back up, reassembling it with a fresh roof and windows made of hand-reglazed glass. That season they had 146 volunteers who logged some 6,700 hours, said McClure. All that remained for 2026 were finishing touches until the vandalism occurred.
“It’s been heartwarming to see the outpouring of love and care by people in the community,” Tracy Croshaw, board president of the White Pass Country Historical Society, told Outside. The organization will manage the lookout’s volunteer stewards once the restoration is complete.
Volunteers have been prepping the windows for reglazing and carrying tools, water, and more up the trail. On July 8, a helicopter brought construction supplies for the crew, said McClure.
“People are just coming out of the woodwork to support us,” added Osburn, describing strangers messaging her asking how to volunteer. “The gratitude is overwhelming on my part.”
Repairing the vandalism will cost at least $9,300, The News Tribune reported. The 2025 restoration was roughly $59,000.
How You Can Help
Donations can be made through the White Pass Country Historical Society or the Sand Mountain Society. Volunteers—including future lookout stewards—can sign up via the High Rock Lookout Restoration Project’s Facebook page or email info@sandmountain.org. Anyone with information about the vandalism can call the Cowlitz Valley Ranger Station in Randle at 360-497-1100.
