Oregon Butte Lookout

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Features Birding · Fall Colors · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

Oregon Butte Lookout is at the highest point in the northern Blue Mountains at 6,387 feet. On a clear day, it offers a 360-degree view of the Blues, with the Wallowa Mountains and the Seven Devil Mountains to the southeast. The lookout staff person reports that at sunset, she has seen Mt. Rainier in the western horizon.

The Mt. Misery Trail #3113 leaves the Teepee Trailhead and passes through a forested slope. Initial sections of the trail can be muddy in the early summer. A little over a mile up the trail, an optional side trail will take you to an overlook of the Wehaha Wilderness.

Continue along the trail, over the crest and then down into a saddle. Oregon Butte spring with a log trough sits about 200 yards before the cutoff to the lookout. You'll reach a junction where the Mt. Misery Trail #3113 will go north and the Oregon Butte Lookout Trail will go south. Follow the trail south to reach the lookout.

The fire lookout is staffed from June to September. Delivery of fresh fruit or vegetables is aways appreciated. Views from the lookout are spectacular. Be sure to ask for a guided tour.

Huckleberry brush line the trail and the sweet fruit are ready by late August.

The lookout was built in 1931. It is staffed from June to the end of September. This lookout coordinates its fire identification and location with lookouts at Table Rock and High Ridge. In 2016, the lookout staff was evacuated by helicopter during the Grizzly Bear Fire.