The Hike to the Fire Lookout

My friend Jun and I hiked six miles up a mountain in Washington this August to stay overnight in an old fire lookout tower you can rent for forty dollars a night. It's a single room, all windows, perched on top of a peak.

We got there at sunset. The view was every mountain in the Cascades, purple and gold, with Mount Rainier glowing pink in the distance like it was lit from inside. We cooked ramen on a camp stove and ate it sitting on the catwalk with our legs dangling over the edge.

At night, the stars were so thick we could see the Milky Way's shadow. We lay on the floor of the tower and looked up through the windows until we fell asleep.

In the morning, a family of mountain goats walked right past the tower. Jun and I just looked at each other and laughed. Best forty dollars I've ever spent.