Lookout Towers Photography

When I was young, my mother worked for the Forest Service a few different times, doing various different jobs from tree planting, to setting live bear traps to tending lookout towers. One summer she got the job of her dreams and worked at a lookout tower outside of Libby, Montana. The tower had a cabin she could stay in because the trip back into town was steep and difficult and our house on the other side of Libby and up yet another mountain nearly as high. The commute would have been too much. I spent a couple weeks with her in that cabin, climbing the 8 stories several times a day, bringing her water and snacks while she worked - until my legs were weak and shaking, but eventually extremely strong. It was one of the best summers I growing up and Lookout towers will forever be a favorite place for me to visit, no matter the trek.