Heybrook Lookout
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 30 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Heybrook Lookout sits atop its namesake ridge at 1,700 feet. The lookout itself rises 67 feet above the ridgeline and provides spectacular views of breathtaking glacial peaks surrounding the valley. The first Heybrook fire lookout was a simple tent platform built in 1925. The Forest Service replaced it seven years later with a 45-foot log leg tower, with a ground-level cabin intended as sleeping quarters for fire rangers; however, rampant rodents eventually drove the rangers up into the tower where they lived until a 67-foot lookout was built in 1964. Heybrook Lookout is one of only 106 lookouts left in Washington State. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, birding and wildlife viewing are popular activities around the lookout.
Facilities
The 14 x14-ft. lookout cabin sleeps four and is furnished with one twin-sized bed with mattress, two additional floor mattresses, a table and chairs, propane stove, pot, pan, silverware, coffee pot and battery operated lanterns. A primitive vault toilet is located several hundred feet down the ridge from the lookout. There is a picnic table at the bottom of the tower. There is no water at the site. Guests must bring water for drinking, cooking and washing. Guests must also bring flashlights, sleeping bags, towels, dish soap, matches, a first aid kit, toilet paper and garbage bags. All trash and food must be packed out, and guests are expected to clean the cabin before leaving Natural Features On a clear day, guests at Heybrook Lookout see views of Mount Index and Bridal Veil Falls, Mount Baring, Mount Persis and the Wild Sky Wilderness. Wildlife is abundant, and guests may catch a glimpse of black bears, bobcat, elk or bald eagle. Wolves are making a comeback to the area, but they are usually heard and not seen. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (360) 677-2414.
Nearby Attractions
Deception Falls Picnic Area, Lake Serene/Bridal Veil Falls hikes, and the Iron Goat historic interpretive trail.
What the agency tells you
Reservations cannot be made for more than 2 days in a row. Entry to the lookout is by key, which must be obtained from the Skykomish Ranger Station.
Water is not available; guests must bring their own supply of water.
Extreme caution must be taken when using lanterns, cook stoves or any other appliances with open flame (candles and incense is prohibited).
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Pack out all food and garbage and clean the facility before you leave. Keep the building and grounds clean to deter squirrel, mice, rats, bears and other wildlife from area.
Please do not let pets roam freely, as they may endanger wildlife and plants or themselves. Pets are not allowed in the lookout or on the stairs.
Access to the lookout in October may be impacted by early snow. Please check with the ranger station for current conditions.
Doors and windows should be locked and all personal items removed upon departure.
The cabin is a no-smoking facility.
Contact the Skykomish Ranger District at (360) 677-2414 prior to arrival to check on any restrictions or conditions, such as fire or road closures, weather or storms that may affect your visit. Once a reservation has been made, each party is responsible for contacting the ranger station to make arrangements to pick up their key.
Click here for more information about Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 25 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…battery operated lanterns. A primitive vault toilet is located several hundred feet down the ridge from…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…picnic table at the bottom of the tower. There is no water at the site. Guests must bring water for drinking,…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Climbing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Rafting
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 373rd darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 4
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| HEYBROOK LOOKOUT | Heybrook Lookout | lookout | 25 ft | 896 ft | $75 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Money Creek CampgroundSnoqualmie National Forest · 8.1 mi
Troublesome Creek CampgroundSnoqualmie National Forest · 8.7 miSan Juan CampgroundSnoqualmie National Forest · 9.6 miTroublesome Creek CampgroundSnoqualmie National Forest · 9.7 mi
Miller River Group CampSnoqualmie National Forest · 10 mi
Beckler River CampgroundSnoqualmie National Forest · 11 miDrive U.S. 2 for 2 miles east of the town of Index, just past milepost 37. Limited parking for the trailhead is located on the north side of the highway across from the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest sign.
From the trailhead, it is a 1 mile hike to the lookout with an elevation gain of 900 feet. Tenants must climb 84 steps in order to reach the main cabin.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Index, WA
Typical weather
Typical October night 42°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 32°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Heybrook Lookout is in Washington’s 8th congressional district. Its representative, Kim Schrier (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →