Desolation

How do we measure the value of a fire lookout? By the number of fires they discover? The number of first reports they make?This week, I share a personal experience from the 2026 fire season that made me reflect on the importance of human observation, communication, and judgment—and why some of the most meaningful work a fire lookout does may never show up in statistics. Because sometimes the most important thing a fire lookout sees isn't a fire starting. It's a situation changing. Get full access to Where in the Wild is Chris? at whereinthewildischris.substack.com/subscribe

In celebration of Halloween, I’m sharing one of my stranger Washington fire lookout adventures. What started as an ordinary outing with my dad to a lesser-known lookout near Spokane took a rather creepy turn when we discovered something rather unexpected. Sometimes the most memorable fire lookout adventures have absolutely nothing to do with the lookout itself. Get full access to Where in the Wild is Chris? at whereinthewildischris.substack.com/subscribe

Earlier this summer, I told the story of Slate Peak, a historic fire lookout that stood for seventy years at the end of Washington's highest road until it collapsed in March. This is the story of a remarkable group of volunteers who pulled off a salvage effort that was anything but simple, and a glimpse of what it really takes to preserve eight historic fire lookouts in one very short summer. Get full access to Where in the Wild is Chris? at whereinthewildischris.substack.com/subscribe

A tiny log cabin has been standing on a remote mountaintop in northeastern Washington since 1914. In that time, lookouts have carved their names into its walls and come and gone. I’ve visited it three times and each time I’ve stood in the same doorway and taken a photograph. This week on Fire Lookout Friday: a story about the animals who walk beside us and what a century-old fire lookout can teach us about love, loss, and the places we keep going back to. Get full access to Where in the Wild is Chris? at whereinthewildischris.substack.com/subscribe

All I want is an ice cream cone.Nearly twenty years after scribbling “Desolation” into a notebook, I finally set out for one of Washington’s most legendary fire lookouts. It took me two attempts to get there. Jack Kerouac spent 63 days up there. I got fifteen minutes. A tale of border crossings, wildfire smoke, and the realization you’re in the worst place imaginable to outrun a lightning storm. Get full access to Where in the Wild is Chris? at whereinthewildischris.substack.com/subscribe

What lightning leaves behind. For the last two weeks, I've been talking about lightning. What it's like to ride out a storm from a fire lookout, and what our eyes miss inside a lightning flash. This season, I hunted down three different trees hit by lightning strikes I witnessed from Goat Peak. Come join me to see what happens when lightning hits a tree and what it leaves behind. Get full access to Where in the Wild is Chris? at whereinthewildischris.substack.com/subscribe

What happens inside a lightning flash? During an extraordinary August 2024 storm from Goat Peak, I realized I'd been watching something far more complicated than I understood. This week, we slow lightning down to see what our eyes miss and explore everything happening inside a lightning flash in just a fraction of a second.Visit my substack page, to see the videos and frame-by-frame sequences of some pretty incredible lightning captures. Get full access to Where in the Wild is Chris? at whereinthewildischris.substack.com/subscribe

What It's Like to Be Inside the Storm. Lookouts and lightning go together like bread and butter, and this week, I'm taking you inside the storm with some of my favorite audio and video recorded from Goat Peak, to explore what it's actually like to sit inside a glass box on top of a mountain that acts like a lightning rod. Get full access to Where in the Wild is Chris? at whereinthewildischris.substack.com/subscribe

For more than a century, fire lookouts have watched over the American West. With the rise of technology, including satellites, cameras, lightning detection, and AI, human lookouts have been called antiquated, obsolete, and destined to disappear.This week on Fire Lookout Friday: a brief history of how fire lookouts came to be and why human fire lookouts are still relevant and important today. Get full access to Where in the Wild is Chris? at whereinthewildischris.substack.com/subscribe

Fire lookout work requires you to pay attention. As it turns out, so do horses and living off-grid. After another intense summer at Goat Peak, I've been thinking about the strange life I've assembled and why all of it seems to ask the same thing of me.This week on Fire Lookout Friday: some end-of-season musings about presence, ponies, and scooping manure. Get full access to Where in the Wild is Chris? at whereinthewildischris.substack.com/subscribe