Lookout Mountain #1

Looking east from the summit toward Toro Peak.

22 FEBRUARY 2025 W6/CT-104

Two Stars – a nice summit. I’d do it again. Recommended.

Elevation:	5,590′
Route:	Pacific Crest Trail and use trail
Hike Distance:	4 miles round trip
Elevation Gain:	1,000′ plus 400′ on the return
Navigation:	Moderate
Steepness:	Steep use trail
Vehicle:	Passenger car
Road:	Paved highway
Cell Coverage:	Good Verizon

Hike basics

It’s always good to get what I consider to be a SOTA trifecta: a unique activation, a complete activation and a new Hundred Peaks Section (HPS) summit. Lookout Mountain (number 1 by the HPS) provided just such an opportunity.

Since I was making the drive, I figured to spend the night in Idyllwild and do Thomas Mountain in the morning before returning to the San Fernando Valley. Cassie (KG6MZR) and I have been staying with a friend since being displaced by the Palisades Fire.

I got a pretty early start and got to the trailhead just before 8am. It was a warm, dry, clear day with a general offshore flow to the airmass over Southern California. The Pacific Crest Trail leaves Highway 74 and heads up to a small pass through a forest of large Redshanks. The trail then descends 400 feet over the next mile or so to the gully where I left the PCT at 33.54859º N, 116.57528º W and headed up a pretty well defined use trail.

Here is my ascent track up Lookout Mountain

Here is the HPS guide

The use trail is fairly obvious but I did need to backtrack a few times where animal trails threw me off.

This is a relatively seldom visited summit and the summit register went back 15 years.

Radio conditions weren’t the greatest and I missed quite a few of my regular chasers, but it was such a nice day and a peaceful summit I didn’t mind too much.