Holland lookout cabin

Sunday October 19 Patti and I hiked up to the Holland lookout cabin.  This is a destination Patti and I each have wanted to do for a long time.

Trail to the lookout cabin

 Saturday's clouds and rain moved on and Sunday morning it was a completely clear sky on a relatively warm Fall day.  A perfect day to hike up on top of a mountain to a lookout.  That is, if the mountain top was not snow covered.  Otherwise, Plan B was to hike to Upper Holland Lake.

During the drive down the Swan Valley we looked at the mountains for signs of snow.  It was hard as we were sort of looking into the rising sun and many of the mountains were in silhouette.  Some mountains had snow and others did not.  Not quite a rhyme or reason to it.

It didn't appear the mountains we would be hiking on had snow, but we wouldn't really know until we climbed up there.  We were fortunate as there were only a few small patches of snow in the shade of trees near the trail on high.  Nothing to really write home about.

At about 9:30 am we weren't really early but there were only a few vehicles in the trailhead's large parking lot.  Many trails leave from here and this is a popular hiking area.

Holland Lookout

Established with a camp in 1921, this 14x14' stone & shake cabin, built in 1931, was abandoned in 1953 and is still there.

The distance to the lookout (cabin) was 6.3 miles one way.
The elevation gain was about 4001 ft.  I don't remember much level ground on the trail; it was mainly up to the top which appears to be at 8074 ft.

3 hours 45 minutes to hike up to the lookout and 2 hours 15 minutes to hike back down to the car.  We spent quite a while at the top as there were mountains all around us.  The Bob Marshall Wilderness lay to our east.  Great Northern Mountain could be seen in the far north.

The calves on my legs were a little sore the next day from the up and down hiking.

Half way up the mountain we were passed by a young man with a young dog on a leash.  He was still at the top when we arrived.  He verified which mountain was Holland Peak. He had hiked to the top of Holland Peak last year and we talked about difficulty.  It is doable without technical means.  If you remember, Holland Peak was the mountain I attempted over a month ago before running out of time.

Holland Peak is the far white peak behind all the other peaks.

Patti and I were getting close to the top when we were passed by a young 20-something man who was running up the trail.  He was gone from the top when we arrived.  The guy with the dog told us the other guy went running along the ridge to the mountain to the NW of us.  Even though he was wearing a florescent yellow shirt we never saw him.  He caught back up to us when Patti and I came back down the mountain and were near the junction for trail 42 and 42.1.

There are plenty of trails in the area and during the hike down we missed a trail junction somehow.  Once we came to a tall stand of Canadian Thistle we realized we were not on the right trail.  We apparently weren't the only ones to miss the trail junction as a short distance away was a steep user created cut-off trail connecting the two trails.


Look at all the beargrass!  I have never seen so much, especially over a large area.  It must have been fantastic when it was in bloom this Summer.

The lookout appears to have been recently worked on.

A bit of a climb.  The trail head is near Holland Lake at 4001 ft below.  The Mission Mountains are on the horizon.

For more photos follow this link:

https://plus.google.com/photos/109566462412251958234/albums/6073624292748167393?authkey=CNj03a7TkvbxvgE


For a 360 view from the top follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEeOGg6cQ-k&feature=youtu.be

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