If you are in a low profile vehicle you may be in for a longer hike up the road, otherwise you can drive to the gate and begin your journey from there. It's a fairly popular hike so you may encounter other vehicles coming down the single track road. It's narrow so watch for possible turn out spots so you know how far you have to back up to let them pass. The cache is located at apx. 9664' above sea level so the air is a little thin and the wind can really blow. The lookout tower is an old Forest Service fire lookout, it is no longer in use. In the 80's, back when the road was open, we would drive up and visit with the person staying in the tower. They had a log book you could sign, and there were names from all over the United States, it was a popular spot back then.
I don't remember what it was called, but in the middle of the tower there was a huge map with the center of it being the tower location. There was a sighting device that rotated around the map. They would point the sight at lightning strike locations and could record the compass setting and use another towers reading to get a coordinate to the possible fire spot. There is a trail to the summit of Red Mountain where the original tower was located. The concrete bases are all that remain of the tower which was lost to a lightning caused fire many years ago.