Bald Moutain Fire Lookout Gone

[Dirt Mover]

They finally took away the top of the tower
Just won;t be the same

[Dirt Mover]

Picture of the new look

[superkaliguy]

  two weekends ago it was still there

[jeradx10]

  what was the reasoning for this?? 

[Cheesemaker]

Most of the time they take out the old towers because they don't man them anymore.  And for insurance/legality reasons.  I would expect that the steel structure will eventually be gone too! 

Up here in Oregon, most of the towers have been destroyed or removed.  There are only a few left, and they are in areas that have a higer chance of forest fires.  When I was a kid, there was 3 just in the Kilchis and upper Wilson River area.  Now, you would be lucky to see a small piece of concrete footing left in the brush.

[monyman]

Anthony, Recreation liaison for Sierra USFS, has updated local clubs that he has $ to refurbish the tower, but it all must be spent by 9/30/13. Apparently the engineers have approved most of the drawings and the project is underway. I didn't realize the roof would be gone so soon, but it is part of the restoration and is planned to be back.

[jeradx10]

Man I hope they get the new one up and it doesn't get put off and forgotten about. It won't be the same with out it.

[mountainguyed67]

Anthony, Recreation liaison for Sierra USFS

Anthony is the OHV Manager.

[BigMike]

Really cool news!! This tower is registered on the National Historic Lookout Registry so I highly doubt it would ever be destroyed without a lot of public notice before hand. It is a true historical outlook, last used in 1979: http://www.peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/BaldMtn.html

BigMike

[BigMike]

Ok so I just showed this to Marlin who was not only well aware of it but was at the Prather forest station late last week and took the following pictures:

Wood from the tower



The top of the roof


And the chimney


And if that wasn't cool enough, he has a couple pieces here at the shop in memory! SO COOL!!



BigMike

[Cheesemaker]

I would have snagged the roof cap!! 

[mountainguyed67]

Last Thursday,Tony from the F.S. was telling me one corner was held together with duct tape.

[Slowzuk]

It's getting rebuilt. A friend of mine is handling some of the engineering of the plans.