Day Hike - Alpine Lookout

Road: the ~4.5 mile dirt road to the trailhead has a couple of deep grooves that you will probably want a high clearance AWD vehicle for. The brush is encroaching on the road, and you will have branches against your car; if you have a precious paint job, take your friend's car! 

Trailhead: The bugs were waiting for us. We applied bug spray immediately. Small parking lot for ~10 cars, but did not fill up by 9 am when we arrived. The pit toilet is open and stocked with toilet paper. 

Trail: The first 2 miles are a bit steep with some switchbacks. The first section is the Round Mountain trail. The lower part is in a dense forest, but in about a mile you reach a burned area. The burn was > 10 years ago by my estimation of the large shrubs, and the extra sunlight gave way to some wildflowers, mostly lupine. This was also our first glimpse of the expansive views to the south from the Wenatchee river at the base up to what I believe are the 7400 ft Chiwakum mountain peaks. We re-entered the trees and continued to climb until reaching the intersection with the Nason Ridge Trail. The trail to the right goes all the way to Lake Wenatchee State park, but we took the left fork to Alpine Lookout. You skirt around Round Mountain (which was more of a hill compared to all of the other surrounding mountains) and in about half a mile reach what feels like a true ridgeline. Because there was significant cloud coverage, it did not get too hot. The trees occasionally thin giving you peek-a-boo views of the peaks. The trail mostly has views to the south, but occasionally shifts over to the other side of the ridge where the views are even more breathtaking with Lake Wenatchee and the Little Wenatchee River valley surrounded by mountain ridges. 1.9 miles from the Nason Ridge intersection was a wonderful overlook which I highly recommend you stop for. The next 1.1 miles had ups and downs and the peek-a-boo views continued, and we reached the intersection with the spur trail to Alpine Lookout. This last 0.3 miles is uphill, but power on and take a well deserved rest and soak in the 360 views. The lookout tower is not open, but has a deck that you can walk on 3/4 of the way around. We were fortunate that the bugs which were a big nuisance the entire way, were absent at the top so we could have our lunch in peace. There were only three other people there besides our group, and we saw less than 10 other people all day, so this is a great place to come to commune with nature. 

Total distance from our group's multiple GPSs was 10 miles roundtrip and 2,900 ft elevation gain.