One of the first questions asked by tourists on Roger Lockwood’s fire lookout is, “Don’t you get bored up here?” His answer is simple: “No.”

In 1995, after teaching in a small, one-room Hutterite school in rural Montana, Roger made the life-changing decision to move to Alaska. For many years, he taught students in small communities from Manakotak to Nuiqsut before retiring from education in Alaska. Roger moved to Florida in 2004, where he continued his teaching career for 12 more years.

After spending 24 years in special education classrooms, Roger decided to pursue something he had always wanted to do—working on a fire lookout. He was hired by the U.S. Forest Service a week after he left his last teaching position. Roger feels lucky to work in one of the few remaining manned fire lookouts, working the east side of the Laramie Mountain range in Wyoming. Roger sits at 8,040 feet in the Black Mountain lookout from May to October, which is accessible only by fourwheeler, three miles up a very rocky and steep road.

One of Roger’s favorite things to do is observe the daily weather. He sees many extremes from atop his lookout, including severe wind gusts (one measuring 130 mph), extreme temperatures, thunderstorms, and dead calm—the number one enemy on the lookout. The calm brings the heat and the insects, like flying ant swarms, throughout the summer. During thunderstorms, Roger’s lookout has been struck by lightning three times! Roger insists, however, that despite their intensity, the thunderstorms are also beautiful.

Before Roger became a teacher, he was a wildland firefighter for 15 seasons, which comes in handy when working with the fire crew. Once smoke is discovered, Roger uses the Osborne Fire Finder— an alidade, or type of a sighting device used to determine directions—to pinpoint the location, and then contacts dispatch. To stay in contact with dispatch and the fire crews, Roger uses three base radios and two portable radios.

It is the best of both worlds for Roger, spending winters in Florida and the rest of the year on a mountain top in Southeastern Wyoming. In Roger’s own words, “I can’t think of a better way to retire, and I enjoy every minute.”

If you would like to learn more about how your State of Alaska retirement can allow you to enjoy a comfortable retirement, please contact the Division toll-free at (800) 821-2251 or at (907) 465-4460 in Juneau.

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