Livingstone Lookout
Oldman River Area
June 13, 2009

According to the lookout log, Livingstone Fire Lookout is rarely visited. Maybe that's because the usual route sounds unappealing: it requires fording Oldman River and hiking several kilometers up a road. We wanted to avoid all that by using our descent route for Camp Ridge.

Thankfully, we were able to avoid walking up the first 3.5 km of road. Sonny Bou took Kelly Bou, Dinah Kruze and I up the 4x4 road in his SUV to the boundary gate. We hiked up the main road and then took a side road to Camp Ridge. The road eventually begins climbing an open ridge before abruptly turning left and dipping down to the valley. It then disappears on the ascent ridge. Instead of following the road down to the valley, we continued up a minor ridge which eventually winds back to the ascent ridge. Before making that connection, however, Kelly turned back. She would wait for us at Camp Creek.

Sonny, Dinah and I continued to the top of Camp Ridge. The saddle that connects Camp Ridge summit to the lookout ridge drops 60 m before rising to meet the cliffs beneath the lookout. We could bypass the cliffs on the right side but the left side appeared exposed. We hiked down to the saddle and up the right side to the lookout.

On the helipad we were greeted by the lookout observer who entertained us with lookout stories. We then turned our attention to the ridge section south of the lookout. The trip didn't seem complete without hiking along the ridge. We covered 500 m before turning back. (Of our 7.5 hour trip, we spent over an hour at the lookout and on the ridge.)

Livingstone Lookout wasn't at the top of our peaks-to-do list, but we probably did the most aesthetic route while avoiding a river crossing.

KML Track
Sonny's Trip Report