Since my first trip there in 2013, Rich Mountain Fire Tower has been a favorite of mine. But back in 2017 on a hike from Tanyard to Allen Gap, I discovered that access to the old fire tower had been cut off. As I blogged about here, I hoped it wasn't the end of the fire tower, but a new lease on life. So, I was ecstatic when I discovered that Rich Mountain Fire Tower had been refurbished and with it reborn.
Even back to my first trip here five years ago the tower was in rough shape and didn't get better with age. In its defense, it has a long history. This 30-foot tower was built in 1932 by the US Forest Service (USFS) and Civilian Conservation Corps. For 60 years the tower was staffed for fire suppression and the 14-by-14 cabin was lived in until the 1970s. Finally, in the early 1990s, the fire tower was decommissioned, but it was refurbished in 1995.
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| Early phot when it was still manned. (National Archive) |
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| The tower on my first visit in 2013. |
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| Inside on my first visit. |
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| Vista on the tower. |
It was almost two decades later that I first went up to the tower and each trip I made up the floors seemed to creaked just a little more, the roof got leaker and the graffiti on the walls grew after each visit. By the time of my last trip to the fire tower, it wasn't a total surprise the bottom stairs had been removed, but it was still sad. From what I gather, it hadn't been closed that long (seems like April of 2017). I have to say my sadness was two-fold. I didn't know the fate of this mountain sentinel, but also because this is an excellent hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT). The hike starts at Tanyard Gap and is 2.6 miles uphill to the tower. But it makes an excellent day hike which I covered here.
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| The tower on my last visit...2017. |
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| View of the tower cabin in 2013. |
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| A lot of brush around the tower, circa 2015. |
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| The old grill. |
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| The communication tower. |
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| A view underneath the tower in 2013. |
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| The old staircase removed in 2017. |
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| Inside the tower in 2013... |
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| ...same spot in 2015 as the graffiti grows... |
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| ...& grows in 2016. |
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| Another example of how the graffiti grows between 2015... |
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| ...& 2016. |
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| Another look inside the "old tower." |
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| I do miss this guy. |
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| My last time up in the old tower in 2016. |
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| The view was pretty grown over in 2015. |
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| More of the vista from 2015... |
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| Wonder if it was my last look in 2016? |
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| The tower junction marker in 2017 (tells the tower is closed). |
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| The marker at the tower. |
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| I could see from here... |
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| ...the stairs up were gone. |
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| Leaving the "old tower" for the last time. |
I had meant to look and see if anything has changed with the tower, but it slipped my mind. So, I was working on the Top 5 Coffee blog and happened across the Laurel River Store Facebook page and saw that the proprietors had been up there to the fire tower. So, since I needed to hike I decided to head that way for a day out. I didn't know what to expect when I got up there, but on my first look through the trees, I knew something was different and I was so excited to discover it had been refurbished and it was beautiful. The give away was the new railing on the tower. Then I noticed the new roof and staircase that reached the ground. I stood a few minutes just admiring it.
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| The photo that sparked my return to Rich Mountain (Laurel River Store) |
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| The new tower sign at the junction with the AT. |
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| My first look... |
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| ...it was... |
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| ...a beautiful site. |
I will say I was excited as I headed up the stairs and delighted when I reached the catwalk. The railing wasn't all that was new, the catwalk had been replaced by metal grating, like at Pinnacle Mountain & Meadow Creek Towers. Because it is more durable (and vandal resistant) it was also installed on the floor of the cab. One adds bonus is you can see the ground through the grates. New walls were installed and painted in the Cabin. I mentioned the new roof they also added lighting rods and grounding cables. Also, the ground around the tower was cleaned up, the old grill removed and they even unearthed the summit marker (which names the mountain Rich Knob). Some trees were trimmed back to improve the great views from the tower. Also, a video camera was installed on the larger communication tower a few hundred yards away... hoodlums beware!
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| The refurbished tower... |
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| ...underneath... |
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| ...new stairs... |
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| ...heading up... |
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| ...new railing... |
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| ......grated walkways... |
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| ...siding... |
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| ...it is... |
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| ...amazing. |
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| You can tell I love it! |
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| Inside, no graffiti... |
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| ...I know the floor is grated... |
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| ...but I would sleep in here. |
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| New ceiling... |
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| New roof. |
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| Grating, which is durable... |
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| ...& you can see through it. |
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| You can see here some of the clearings of the vista. |
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| The beautiful view. |
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| More of the work that was done... |
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| ...the summit marker was rediscovered. |
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| Vandals beware... |
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| ...Big Brother is watching! |
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| Boy, that makes me happy. |
All this work wasn't easy or cheap. It was a combined effort of the USFS, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Forest Fire Lookout Association, and Carolina Mountain Club. So, a big thanks go out to all involved in giving new life to this Appalachian treasure.
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| Rich Mountain...(Angela Wilhelm) |
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| ...ribbon cutting back in November of 2018. (Angela Wilhelm) |
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| Just one of the groups to thank. |
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