The "Little" Little Bald Mountain Lookout Page

Exterior Details

"Little" Little Bald Lookout is constructed of cedar at a scale of approximately one inch to a foot. I used my best guess of actual construction methods as much as possible, making individual parts and building components from scratch. For example, I cut 1" cedar blanks and split them into individual shingles for the roof, using a jackknife "froe" and tack hammer "mallet". I put everything together with brass brads, reinforced with strategic daubs of Weldbond glue.

My model stands about four feet high, somewhat taller than actual scale. The cabin of the real Little Bald Lookout was only about 20 feet above the ground, although, perched on the edge of a cliff as it was, it seemed much higher. I recall many visitors who started up the stairway but quickly decided not to climb all the way to the cabin, claiming that they "could see just fine from where they were, thank you."
I tapered the tower legs rather than make them parallel as in the original - I just prefer the look. This image shows my Dad, a retired forester and former USFS District Ranger, standing by the finished model, revealing the actual scale.

I placed my Little Bald on the edge of a "bluff" (concrete bulkhead) like the original, except mine looks out over south Puget Sound and the western side of Mount Rainier rather than the center of the Washington Cascades. The model is over a dozen years old now, fully repaired after the Christmas '96 storm damage and has weathered to a nice buckskin patina in our Western Washington climate.

Interior Details
'96 Storm Damage
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"Little" Little Bald Lookout is constructed of cedar at a scale of approximately one inch to a foot. I used my best guess of actual construction methods as much as possible, making individual parts and building components from scratch. For example, I cut 1" cedar blanks and split them into individual shingles for the roof, using a jackknife "froe" and tack hammer "mallet". I put everything together with brass brads, reinforced with strategic daubs of Weldbond glue.
	My model stands about four feet high, somewhat taller than actual scale. The cabin of the real Little Bald Lookout was only about 20 feet above the ground, although, perched on the edge of a cliff as it was, it seemed much higher. I recall many visitors who started up the stairway but quickly decided not to climb all the way to the cabin, claiming that they "could see just fine from where they were, thank you." I tapered the tower legs rather than make them parallel as in the original - I just prefer the look. This image shows my Dad, a retired forester and former USFS District Ranger, standing by the finished model, revealing the actual scale.
I placed my Little Bald on the edge of a "bluff" (concrete bulkhead) like the original, except mine looks out over south Puget Sound and the western side of Mount Rainier rather than the center of the Washington Cascades. The model is over a dozen years old now, fully repaired after the Christmas '96 storm damage and has weathered to a nice buckskin patina in our Western Washington climate.