By: Amy Q.
Photos courtesy reservation.gov
This morning barreling down the highway in our bumpy old dodge I could already enjoy the novelty of our date night coming in a few hours. We opted to take our truck to work today so that we could then drive it up into the mountains just outside of Superior to our picturesque lodging for the evening. This is the second time we have rented a fire lookout tower in the area from the USFS. In 2011 we stayed the night at UpUp Lookout which is up Ward Creek just west of St. Regis. That lookout tower was very high off of the rocky peak it stood on. The creaky old wooden stair case wound around the base up to the hatch that led to a “porch”. Our first experience with renting a fire lookout was incredible, the views were beyond compare, breathtaking doesn’t do it justice. The only lesson we learned from the evening was don’t rent a tiny little all glass room on top of a mountain on the night of a full moon. It was so bright we barely slept at all. Hence this week I checked before booking is a new moon week. Dark indeed.
Thompson Peak Lookout appears to be much cozier and less rustic than UpUp. The lookout is actually part of a three story concrete building, hence no nausea inducing climb up and down the stairs to use the outhouse. Also the tower has some carpeting, electric heat, stove and microwave. The one room facility has bed(s) with mattresses that can sleep up to four people. There is no drinkable water available at the site, and as noted the bathroom is located below the tower, a good old outhouse.
I am most looking forward to this date tonight because of the sereneness, the quiet, truly alone time I’ll get with Christopher, and best of all it will be relaxing yet still an adventure. A new place, beautiful scenery, it’s sort of like camping, but not. And one of my husband and I’s favorite past-times is to take truck rides up old forest service roads, so getting to the lookout will be half the experience.
A suggestion I would give to future lookout renters, at this site it is noted that it in fact does have cellphone service in the tower, because there just so happens to be a cellular tower attached to the building. But…who cares! Don’t worry about your stinkin phones, smart phone, dumb-phone, iPad, etc. Bring the phone in case of emergency, but leave it in your vehicle. How often do you get the chance to be completely disconnected from the world for a few hours, and be fully engaged and focused on your spouse. Rarely if ever. Thankfully Christopher and I don’t have any problems with Facebook notifications, or texting conversations interfering with our dates. Why? Because when you’re together, be together. Don’t divide your attention between your spouse and anything else, they deserve your complete undivided attention. It speaks volumes to me when Chris and I are having dinner at home, or we are out on a date and someone calls, he waits to answer or respond. He’s saying I am here with you, whatever it is can wait.
Take my word on it, skip the technical devices and bring a notebook and pencils instead, spend the evening being enamored by the view and write to each other, write about life, your dreams and your struggles, the past and your future. Maybe make a list of all the things you want to do together, cause who wouldn’t be inspired to create a bucket list while sitting on the top of a mountain in a fire lookout tower.
To reserve your own night away from it all go here to check out all the fire lookout rentals in the state of Montana.
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