Life atop a Colorado fire lookout

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Near the western edge of the vast San Juan National Forest, there stands a lookout tower 9,262 feet above sea level. With a view that includes four states — Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado — no one gets a better lay of the land than Rick Freimuth.

Freimuth and his wife, Linda, have occupied the Benchmark Lookout every summer since 2016. Now retired, the couple can’t help but come back to staff the lookout each year, relishing the solitude it provides them.

“Lookouts are traditionally people who seek solitude . . . looking for smokes might be incidental for those people. For me, it’s not. I love finding smokes and the solitude is just wonderful,” Freimuth commented.

Throughout his day, Freimuth is constantly on the watch for “smokes” — signs of potential wildfires — as far as his eye can see. Listening to the crackle of the radio and monitoring the weather in the sky, Freimuth is a foundational piece in the safety of people surrounding the area.

Read more: https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/rocky-mou...

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