We started at the Trailhead just past the Falls Creek Horse camp. It soon crosses a stream - the bridge is missing a railing section, but it was safe enough. It continues climbing through forest and comes out to the unnamed pond near Indian Racetrack. This could be boggy in certain seasons - the trail was mucky but not covered in water as per some trip reports. It is a bit hard to find the trail continuing up to Red Mountain but follow light tread to an intersection with some better trail and turn right. Keep looking to the left for a trail sign and head for that - 171 continues up.
The Indian Racetrack is a large area of flat. 171 goes up - the last bit to the road leading to the lookout is steep and rather loose dirt so going down requires some care. Once you are on the road, you are nearly to the lookout. You will see the shed below the lookout with the lookout above it. It was foggy when we arrived but over the course of an hour, Adams popped out, Hood appeared, and most of Mt. St. Helen's. We could barely make out the top of Rainier in the distance. Wild flowers were abundant; views could not be beat. The lookout was locked up tight. We only saw two other people the entire day.
We attempted to follow the unmarked trail to Basin Lakes, but it became increasing worse - lots of blowdown and steep sections. We decided the lakes likely weren't worth it so about halfway there, we turned back as we planned to get to Burley Mountain Lookout the next day.
Dave's GPS Track