Located deep in the PNW wilderness, some 15 miles from the nearest road, Desolation Peak is an amptly named crag of rock just south of the Washington State/Canada border. And atop this rock sits one of the few remaining staffed fire lookout towers in the U.S.
Famed Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac once held the post (and experience he wrote about in titles ranging from The Dharma Bums to Desolation Angels) though these days, it's under the watchful eye of Jim Henterly, an illusrator, naturalist, well-experienced lookout, and subject of new short film "Ode to Desolation."
At its peak (no pun intended), the the Forest Service staffed as many as 9,000 fire lookouts across the country. Jim is now just one of only about 60 remaining paid lookouts—thanks to satellites, AI, and high res cameras.