Desolation Peak Lookout remains an operational fire lookout staffed each summer by fire personnel. The lookout features sweeping vistas of North Cascade peaks including Hozomeen Mountain. The lookout is best known as the setting for Jack Kerouac's novel Desolation Angels. Kerouac spent the summer of 1956 manning the structure for the U.S. Forest Service. The lookout can be accessed via a six-mile (10 km) trail from the shore of Ross Lake.