A deacon from my church helped me hide
this cache and showed me how to reach the old fire tower. He
remembers when a ranger used to live there in a shack and
could only go to town for supplies once in a while after a
hard rain.
Forest service fire
towers became obselete with the advent of airplanes and
helicopters, and this one, like all others, was torn down. Signs of
it still remain, though. In addition to the pylons, there is a rock
wall here that the ranger built and some old, rusted cans and
buckets from that bygone era.
This cache is located on the
Rustic Poteau Mountain Auto Tour, which is an old road in
surprisingly good shape that spans the entire range. It's nearly 18
miles long and took us about two hours to drive in its entirety.
The road is easily traversed in a two-wheel drive vehicle, though a
car may have clearance problems. I recommend at least a
truck.
There is an excellent cache on the east side
of this drive:
Eastside of Poteau Mountain. Make sure to do it, too! Make an
afternoon of it.
Also, you can claim the
fire tower as a benchmark
find. Good luck.