The Firewatch Tower
There may not be a story in the Firewatch Tower. But there is just the right quantity of pictures, so there’s going to be a blog post regardless. I could talk about the views, the light, and the incinerating toilet. I could, maybe, write about peeing into the wind, but that’s really Doug’s story. I could write about the night sky and light pollution, and scrambling on the rocks. But mostly, I should write about how phenomenal the natural sunlight burst through the clouds and threw beautiful rays across every peak, all the way to the horizon.
I’m not sure I can do it justice, though.
The idea for the Firewatch Tower trip was a joint effort between my friend Casey and I. We both played a PC game called Firewatch, which has some of best artwork I’ve ever seen in a game. It is 100% my aesthetic. I had also seen a number of photographs from some firewatch towers in Washington State on the internet (okay, on Instagram, fine) which is when it occurred to me that you could stay in these things. Sure enough, Colorado has at least two towers available for rent in the off-season (i.e. from autumn through spring, when the entire state isn’t a simmering ember just waiting for the slightest breeze to set the whole thing alight). There is the Jersey Jim Lookout Tower in the San Juans, which I wish were closer because it looks a bit insane, and the Squaw Mountain Lookout Tower, near Idaho Springs - this one is available to rent year round. We chose the one that was less than two hours away, if that needed clarifying. Please note that we reserved this thing in September 2017, for March 2018. They only open it for reservations up 6 months in advance, so we were lucky to nab the one available Saturday night in that 6-month window.
Which is how Casey and I planned a 24-hour trip to stay in the tower with our significant others, who were significantly less enthused.
To get to the Squaw Mountain Lookout, you park at what turned out to be, to our displeasure, an outdoor shooting range. It’s about a mile hike from the parking lot to the tower. We packed in more things than we usually bring backpacking because it was such a short hike. Plus, there wasn’t going to be much to do once we got to the tower so it would be good to have some games. The sound of gun shots filled the hike, and part of the afternoon, which was jarring and irritating. I’m not sure gun-hobbyists realize how far sound carries in the mountains (or maybe they just don’t care), or how incredibly unpleasant it is for everyone else trying to enjoy the outdoors. At the trail head, we (ahem, Casey) narrowly avoided making any loud remarks about how no one needs a freaking AR-15, which was probably good, as that’s what several of the shooters were holding.
So, it was not a great start, but things improved.
The hike was quick and not too snowy. We plucked the key for the tower out of the lock box and let ourselves into our home-away-from-home for the next 20 hours. The view from the tower is vast and wide, much to my satisfaction. I was really just in it for the photos - it was a lot of fun to have a short trip searching for good pictures and good light. There wasn’t a whole lot else to do at the tower, except read the guestbook (which had some interesting entries) and play some of the card games we brought.
I realize that this tower exists explicitly to watch for fires, but that didn’t stop me from being blown away by just how much you could see from the top. Truly amazing, and completely worth the experience.
Doug, pretending he can read.
Denver!
The tower shares it’s mountain top with a bunch of communication equipment
Just chilling.
The tower consists of a 360-degree deck surrounding a single room completely covered with windows. Inside, there are two sad little cots, a couple small tables and chairs, and in the center, a beautiful and clearly old navigation device aptly named a “fire finder”. This whole tower is historic and has only been available for rent since 2013. It’s also one of the highest lookout towers in the United States, perched at 11,400 feet above sea level. Below the lookout room, accessed by a completely different door with no interior stairs, is another room which can only be described as a murder-den. The murder-den houses the kitchen, some storage, and a bunk bed.
And, of course, just outside the tower is the incinerating toilet.
An incinerating toilet is exactly what it sounds like. To use, you are supposed to place a paper liner into the bowl (no matter what substance you are disposing of), then once you’re finished, you close the lid and hit a button. This releases a level that drops the paper liner and any other material into an incineration vessel. There is a second button which, when pressed, slowly burns all materials. Given that this building was located on a giant pile of rocks, I understand why a run-of-the-mill composting toilet is not an option. But I’ve never had to light my urine on fire before, so it was a new experience.
After relaxing hour of hypothesizing about what types of murders had taken place on the lower level, making a number of mature jokes regarding the toilet, and eating a snack, we decided to explore the area. There isn’t much hiking to be done around the lookout, though there are some random communication towers and a related building nearby. The mountain top was rocky, but we decided to do some scrambling to see what there was to see. The afternoon sun was throwing some positively incredible light over the mountains.
We returned to the tower (top level, not murder-den) to play some card games and wait for Golden Hour. Casey and I attempted to figure out the fire finder, in a bit of a throwback to Geomatics with Milan Halek. Conveniently, neither Casey nor I decided to pursue a career in land surveying or fire finding, because we couldn’t really figure it out. Then, I made everyone model for me on the deck as the sun sank lower into the sky. Casey got a picture of Kit and I to prove that I was, in fact, present. I also tried some awkward modeling, but I will not be sharing those photos.
We made fajitas for dinner, which worked out pretty well. The kitchen has a small stove, and some pots and pans reminiscent of those you find in a college dorm kitchen. Unfortunately, the kitchen is located in the murder-den, so we had to spend some time there. It was worth it, though, as we took our cooked meal up to the top room to enjoy. Sitting in the tower watching the sunset while stuffing freshly sauteed hot peppers and onions into my mouth is exactly how I enjoy spending my Saturday evenings.
We drew straws for which couple would have to sleep in the murden-den, and decided instead on cuddling with our S.O.’s on the tiny cots upstairs. The end result was that no one slept that well, but also no one was murdered. Plus, it was great to lie on the cot with a complete circle of night sky and moonlit mountains. I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the skyglow you can see from up there. There’s no denying the impact Denver has on our dark skies, but it’s really obvious from up high. The glow of Denver was persistent throughout the night. On the west side, however, there was sufficient star-viewing, though nothing compared to what you can see if you get further away from the front range.
I take for granted the opportunities I have had to see the stars.
I “woke up” before sunrise to set up a time lapse, which could have been amazing if someone other than me had been setting up the shot - but the sunrise did not disappoint. Morning was wrapped up by us stuffing protein bars down our throats and our gear into our bags. After cleaning up, we hiked out. We brunched in Golden by 10 am. With that, there’s not much else to tell. I’ll leave you with several pictures of the morning.
A night well spent, if not well-slept.
Love,
April
Song of the Day: Stars and Moons by Dizzy