Hidden Lake Lookout
— the small house above the lake.
Not only on a wall.
“A 1932 fire lookout at about 6,890 feet on a shoulder of Hidden Lake Peak in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, looking down to the lake and east toward the spine of the North Cascades. The route is roughly nine miles round trip from a rough trailhead off the Cascade River Road, with serious gain over the last two thousand feet. The lookout still stands, kept up by volunteers, and is open to backpackers on a first-come, first-served basis. People who climb to it often come back quieter than they went.
Hidden Lake Lookout, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Hidden Lake Lookout sits at about 6,890 feet on a shoulder of Hidden Lake Peak in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, on the western edge of North Cascades National Park in Skagit County, Washington. The lookout itself is a 14-by-14-foot frame structure built in 1932 by the U.S. Forest Service, one of relatively few of its era still standing in the North Cascades. It is reached by the Hidden Lake Trail from Sibley Creek Road, a steep gravel spur off the Cascade River Road south of the town of Marblemount.
The peak is part of the Skagit Gneiss complex, the granite-and-gneiss core that makes up most of the central North Cascades. The 1932 lookout was built by hand from material packed in by mule and on foot, on the highest practical fire-watch position above the Cascade River drainage. It was decommissioned for fire use in the 1950s but has been kept standing ever since by the Friends of Hidden Lake Lookout and Forest Service volunteers, who repair shake roofing, replace shutters, and pack out trash through periodic summer work parties.
The road and trail are usually clear of snow from mid-July through early October. The Hidden Lake trailhead is reached by Sibley Creek Road, a rough gravel road off Cascade River Road, about ten miles past Marblemount. The trail is roughly 9 miles round trip with about 3,300 feet of gain, and most hikers take six to eight hours. The lookout sleeps about four on the floor, first-come, first-served, with no reservation and no fee; the closest water is the lake well below, and the final ridge is exposed in weather.