Stormy Night at Park Butte Lookout

Forecast shows rain all weekend? PERFECT. 

Begin your journey from your respective location heading to the Park Butte Trailhead (Park Butte Lookout, FS road 13, Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284). Don't forget to play a little Ben Howard in the car on the way.

You'll need your trusty Discover Pass. If you forget it, I suggest drawing your local park ranger a picture of him/her deciding not to give you a ticket because you're good people and just want to have some fun outside (hey, it worked for us). 

The trail leaves the parking area around 3250 ft. and starts you off heading west. 0.7 miles in you will need to cross Rocky Creek. If you've chosen the correct weekend, the creek will look more like a river. You might consider walking about a 100 yards upstream until you find a spot to cross without getting your boots too wet. 

Note: Cairns mark the entrance back to the trail once you find a place to cross the creek. 

After 2 miles (4,400 ft.) you will reach a junction with Scott Paul Trial. Continue left and you will soon enter Morovitz Meadow - which should basically be one giant puddle. You'll consider hanging left where crossing is a little less treacherous, but the little kid inside of you will take control and you'll spend a few minutes splashing around first.

Keep on trekking up the mountain, using the cairns as guides. When you pass Pocket Lake (on your left) you're getting close. As you reach the lookout at 5450 ft., climb the ladder, remove the storm door, and enter... but before you get all cozy I suggest opening up one of the window coverings to let a little light in.

What? Your entire backpack is soaked along with everything in it? Bummer, I suggest laying out everything out to "dry" ... haha.

Make sure to search through the many log books to find the exact day your were born and discover what was going on up there that day so many years ago. Win a few games of cards against your friends, make dinner, traverse across the likely wet floor using the two chairs as stilts to grab your fresh socks which you put in a ziplock bag to keep dry. 

When you decide its finally time to call it a night, keep in mind that there are extra sleeping bags in attic above the bed if your sleeping bag is still really wet. 

If you get lucky, the rain will pick up and the thunder will begin. There is a storm stool which you should stand on if the lighting is hitting nearby but we took our chances and figured if there was one way we would want to go, this would be it. There should be a candle and chamberstick nearby somewhere. Lose the flashlights and use this exclusively, making sure to give your best Scrooge impression at least once.

If you're really really lucky, you'll wake up to the clouds beneath you. Make yourself some instant coffee and take a trip around the balcony to a stunning view of the misty valley below you and majestic Mount Baker above.

Soak it all in - give God some kudos for his artwork - put your wet boots back - call it a day.