Verlot Point
WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Hiking
Elevation: 1,640 feet (my guess)
Distance: 1.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 800 feet
Access: Paved
This location had Osborne panoramics taken on August 21, 1935. The images were shot 15 feet above the ground. Scattered below on the ground were fresh cut trees. Was it a platform tower or just an area being cleared for a possible future site? Verlot Point is also lookout #54 in the Spring/Fish book “Lookouts, Firewatchers of the Cascades and Olympics". That book says there was vague reference in Forest Service records and it was used for plane spotting during WWII. (Based on the AWS records I have, the Verlot Ranger Station was used for AWS, not Verlot Point).
Access:
Just past the Verlot Public Service Center, Benson Road is on the left, before the river crossing. At the end of Benson Road is a gate with no parking signs. I biked to this location from the Verlot Public Service Center.
Route:
The land behind the gate is State Parks land. Follow the old road to an old sign that says end of county maintenance. A road on the right is blocked by several large trees. Behind this is a creek with the bridge removed. Drop down, ford the creek and climb up to the old road bed (this is a bushwhack). The old road goes a short distance before hitting a massive landslide down to the Stillaguamish River. Bushwhack above the landslide as shown on the map until you hit the old road. Follow old road (brushy) to near top where you ender Forest Service land. Although overgrowing, his old road was very well built and often well elevated above the forest floor.
2019 Visit
At the 1,640 foot flat bench on the ridge is where I believe the pictures were taken. The area I suspect for the images is in old, never cut timber, the same timber in the panoramics. I used Google Earth to locate the spot, although the match wasn’t what I would call perfect. I’m still open to additional possibilities although I can’t imagine where, nothing else I can find fits.
The east side of the ridge (from the highpoint down to the bench and down to the river) had the old-growth timber cut and slid down to the river. I dropped down the ridge almost to the river as shown on the map. The forest at the bench matched perfectly for 84 years later (based on my forestry experience). The surviving trees in the panoramics were quite large and many of these trees are now legacy snags or even still living and quite large.
1960 Kroll Map
1960 Metsker Map
These two 1960 maps show an interesting item. The US government owned a one acre parcel of land inside the private ownership of Soundview Pulp Co. on the ridge. The small parcel appears to be in the same area as the bench or highpoint. Why would the government retain this one acre parcel?
I made a video during my search, view at:
Ownership today (2019)
Zoom in of the ground in the SE panoramic showing the lineup of cut logs as you neared the photo location. I think sections of the cut logs were used to build a 15 foot tall platform.
Looking Southwest in 1935 with Mt. Pilchuck above
Looking Southeast in 1935
Looking North in 1935
Map of where I went during my trip in 2019
Odd open area with no trees at the bench location I believe was the photograph site in 1935
Roughly same direction 2019 with one of the surviving big trees still around from the 1935 picture.
Roughly same direction 2019, all this timber grew up and an older forest is still further back to the right as shown in the picture on left.
Roughly same direction as image on left