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Fire lookout · Latah County, Idaho

Bald Mountain Lookout

Also known as Bald Mountain Lookout (Big Baldy)

Idaho's Bald Mountain Lookout, rebuilt in 1960 on a site used since 1913, is now a popular Forest Service rental cabin on the Clearwater National Forest.

Visit & stay

You can rent this lookout for overnight stays through recreation.gov.

Season
early July through early October
Sleeps
Up to 4 people

Rules

  • Pack out all trash

Overview Bald Mountain Lookout offers the opportunity to enjoy unforgettable views and participate in a variety of recreational opportunities. It was built in 1956 and was used as a fire lookout until 1984. Guests can drive to the lookout in vehicles with good ground clearance, but trailers are not recommended due to some rough spots on the road. The lookout is typically open from early July through early October. The accommodations are mostly primitive, but some conveniences are provided. Guests will need to bring some of their own supplies and gear for a comfortable experience. Recreation Access to Strychnine Ridge Trail 319 is just southwest of the lookout. This 4-mile trail intersects with Beason Meadows Trail 228 a half-mile below the lookout. The Beason Meadows Trail is 8.9 miles long and leads down to Giant White Pine Campground. These trails are open to hikers, mountain bikers, motorcyclists and equestrians. Click here for an Idaho OHV safety message. Facilities This lookout sits 50 feet off the ground. A stairway leads to an exterior catwalk that surrounds the cabin, which can accommodate four people. A table and four chairs, a futon that folds into a twin bed with foam pad and two cots are provided. Propane appliances include a cooking stove and heater. Cookware, dishes and utensils are provided. A pit toilet is located just below the lookout. Water and electricity are not offered at the cabin. Guests need to bring their own drinking water and lighting/ Flashlights. Garbage bags are also needed to pack out trash. Bedding and additional mattresses are not provided. The refrigerator has been removed, guests may want to consider bringing a cooler with extra ice for perishable items. Natural Features Bald Mountain is one of the highest peaks in the Hoodoo Mountain Range, and it's heavily forested with a mix of larch, red cedar, hemlock, western white pine, Douglas fir and Engelmann spruce. The lookout offers a bird's eye view of the surrounding mountains from its perch 5,334 feet above sea level. Guests who come to this rustic retreat can enjoy a panorama featuring the golden, rolling hills of the Palouse to the south and St. Maries to the north. The lookout offers an ideal vantage point to watch sunrises and sunsets or gaze at the stars. Wildlife watchers may see eagles soaring through the sky. Bear, moose, elk and deer are frequently spotted in the area. Nearby Attractions Bald Mountain Lookout is located just off Highway 6, which is known as the White Pine Scenic Byway. This 80-mile scenic drive takes visitors through beautiful forests, historic towns and scenic farmland.

Book on recreation.gov

Rental details from recreation.gov, checked 19 Oct 2026. Rules, fees and seasons change, so confirm on the booking page before you go. Data source: ridb.recreation.gov

Access

Open to the public. On USFS cabin rental program; reachable by high-clearance vehicle, trailers not recommended on rough sections.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Dirt road has rough spots; no water at the lookout; lock combination required.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 flat cab with catwalk on a 41-foot timber towerThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
5,334 ft (1,626 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Latah County, Idaho
Coordinates
47.03194, −116.57194
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 19 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-bald-mountain-3

View from the cab

What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1913 BuiltFirst facility on the site: a cabin.Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1913 and 1938
  3. 1938 Replaced by a new structureL-4 cab on a 50-foot pole tower.Source: nhlr.org
  4. No record between 1938 and 1960
  5. 1960 BuiltCurrent R-6 flattop cab on a 41-foot timber tower.Source: nhlr.org
  6. 1967 StaffedRelief lookout Bill Berrigan recorded at the tower.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  7. No record between 1967 and 1984
  8. 1984 Last staffedRecreation.gov states it was used as a fire lookout until 1984.Source: recreation.gov
  9. 1998 RestoredRefurbished.Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to the National Historic Lookout Register, April 24, 2009.Source: nhlr.org
  11. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The first fire-watching post on Bald Mountain, in the hills above the Palouse in Latah County, Idaho, was a simple cabin built in 1913.1 It was replaced in 1938 by an L-4 cab set on a 50-foot pole tower, and that structure in turn gave way in 1960 to the building that stands today: an R-6 flat-roofed cab with a catwalk, set on a shorter 41-foot timber tower.1 (Recreation.gov's listing for the site gives a construction date of 1956, a few years off from the 1960 date on the National Historic Lookout Register's record — the register's entry, which also accounts for the two earlier structures on the site, looks like the more careful account.)2,1

The tower was built and run by the U.S. Forest Service on what is now the Clearwater National Forest.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts' research turned up at least one name connected to the post, relief lookout Bill Berrigan, recorded there in 1967, though the full staffing history has not been pieced together.3 Recreation.gov's listing states the lookout was staffed into 1984, after which it dropped to emergency, as-needed status.2,3

Bald Mountain was never abandoned outright. It was refurbished in 1998, added to the National Historic Lookout Register in April 2009 as US 777, and has been kept on the Forest Service's cabin rental program ever since.1,3

Today the lookout sits on land open to the public and can be rented through Recreation.gov, generally bookable from the start of July into early October.2 High-clearance vehicles can make it most of the way up, though a trailer isn't a good idea on the rougher patches of road, and renters need a lock combination — included with the booking confirmation — to get inside.2 A couple who stayed there in 2022 described the exterior, catwalk, and stairs as being in good shape, with a pump sink, a range top, and an opened-up ceiling that makes the small cab feel roomier than most.3

  1. Bald Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/bald-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Bald Mountain Lookout, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234507 (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Bald Mountain Lookout (Big Baldy), Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/bald-mountain-lookout-big-baldy/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bald Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bald Mtn. L-4 tower
Bald Mtn. L-4 towerPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Bald Mtn. in 1950
Bald Mtn. in 1950 (1950)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Bald Mtn. before restoration
Bald Mtn. before restorationPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Bald Mtn. in 1998
Bald Mtn. in 1998 (1998)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Bald Mountain Lookout (Big Baldy)
Bald Mountain Lookout (Big Baldy)Photo: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1960
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1913
    • recreation.gov: 1956

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Recreation Information Database (recreation.gov) Gave us: ownership, access, rental details, links Data source: ridb.recreation.gov · Public data from the US government · retrieved 19 Oct 2026
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association: lookout rentals Gave us: rental details, links Forest Fire Lookout Association rentals list (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only (state, name, booking link, manager, closure note), no prose copied. The FFLA says it is not involved in managing any rental program. · retrieved 19 Oct 2026
  5. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: design, height, photos, links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: photos, links idahofirelookouts.com · No licence stated; facts only (coordinates, status/built/destroyed year parsed from each entry's short excerpt). Thumbnail photos mirrored with credit per the project's photo policy. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  7. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  8. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  9. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, visiting details, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

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