This cache qualifies for the Oregon Fire Lookout Challenge; this is
a section 7 cache. Dooley Mountain has a long history with Baker
county. Well, at least the road that bears its name. If you go back
as far as 1868 you'll find the first road to be built over Dooley.
The Dooley Toll Road actually summited east of Dooley mountain (hwy
245 now passes west). A Toll House was constructed south of Beaver
Mountain. Travel from Baker to the burnt river valley in those days
took an entire day or more to traverse.
From the 1920's through 70's if you wanted to get from Baker to
John Day you would be required to take what was then hwy 7 up over
the Dooley summit and through Hereford. When the new highway 7 was
built this, in effect, cut off the residents of the burnt river
valley from the rest of the world in favor of Sumpter valley on up
over Austin junction. Many once popular businesses had to close
their doors for good.
Dooley mtn. lookout was constructed in 1936 as an L-4 cab
structure. It was abandoned within 11 years. What is left of it now
in 2008? Well, with 5 feet of snow on the ground it'll be up to
future finders of this cache to keep us informed.
Your hunt will begin at the Dooley summit (5392') where skyline
road (11) crosses hwy 245. Or you can travel east on road 11 to
Trail Creek road, and head up the hill to a parking spot 1/10 of a
mile from the cache. The first stretch of this road looks rough so
you might want to park at the bottom if you worry about ground
clearance. I made it successfully in a volkswagon jetta after a
couple of stops to move rocks. The cache is a clear lock-n-lock
style container with a log and writing instrument.