FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Blaine County, Idaho

Bald Mountain Lookout (Sawtooth National Forest)

Also known as Bald Mountain

Bald Mountain above Ketchum has carried a lookout since 1921; the current frame cab dates to 1958, and fire watching ended in the mid-1990s.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 1990s)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingFrame cab on a concrete baseThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1921
Height
Unknown
Elevation
9,160 ft (2,792 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Sawtooth National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Blaine County, Idaho
Coordinates
43.65485, −114.40936
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-bald-mountain-sawtooth-national-forest

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.

Downloads about 3.3 MB of terrain data the first time.

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

History

Then and now

  1. 1921 BuiltFirst lookout on the summit, a wooden structure.Sources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1921 and 1937
  3. 1937 BuiltL-4 cabin on a stone base, per the register. The Forest lookouts history instead dates new construction to 1940-41.Source: nhlr.org
  4. 1941 BuiltNew building completed after CCC work began in June 1940, per the Forest lookouts history.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1946 StaffedBob Hewitt stationed at the lookout for the fire season, per a 1946 newspaper item.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1951 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Sluder listed as watchers.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  7. 1954 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Arnold Zenk listed as watchers; both were local teachers.Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1958 BuiltCurrent frame cab on a concrete base.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  9. 1971 StaffedFred Judd listed as a watcher.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  10. No record between 1971 and 1995
  11. 1995 Last staffedStaffing discontinued in the mid-1990s; the lookout continues as a communications facility.Sources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  12. No record between 1995 and 2020
  13. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 28, 2020.Source: nhlr.org
  14. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Bald Mountain sits about two miles south-southwest of Ketchum in Blaine County, and a lookout has stood on it since 1921, when a wooden structure went up.1,2,3 A 1946 newspaper item quoted by one local history calls it Baldy Mountain.3

The second building is where the sources disagree. The register says an L-4 cabin on a stone base went up in 1937.2 A Forest lookouts history instead dates a new building to work begun by Civilian Conservation Corps crews in June 1940 and completed in 1941. It describes separate restrooms for men and women and a public lounge.3 The sources do not say whether these accounts describe the same building.

The current structure, a frame cab on a concrete base, dates to 1958.2,1

Fire watchers staffed the lookout from at least the 1940s into the 1990s.3,2 In 1946, Bob Hewitt was stationed at the lookout for the fire season.3 Idaho Fire Lookouts lists Mr. and Mrs. Sluder in 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Zenk in 1954, and Fred Judd in 1971.4 The Zenks were local teachers.3

Staffing ended in the mid-1990s.2 It no longer serves for fire detection, but it still operates as a communications site.3 The National Historic Lookout Register listed Bald Mountain on September 28, 2020.2

Idaho Fire Lookouts files the tower under "Drive-In Emergency Status."4 We found no source describing public visits or rentals, so treat it as a working site. Check with the Sawtooth National Forest before planning a trip, and do not climb any part of it without permission.

  1. Bald Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Fire Lookout, http://www.firelookout.com/id/baldmtn318.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Bald Mountain Lookout (Sawtooth National Forest), National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/bald-mountain-lookout-sawtooth-national-forest/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Bald Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Idaho), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/bald-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Bald Mountain, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/bald-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Bald Mountain Lookout - 2018
Bald Mountain Lookout - 2018 (2018)Photo: Derek Perkoski, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Circa 1920's
Circa 1920's (1920)Photo: USFS Region 4 History Collection, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1941
1941 (1941)Photo: USFS Region 4 History Collection, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bald Mtn. in 2018
Bald Mtn. in 2018 (2018)Photo: Derek Percoski, via firelookout.com · source
Bald Mountain
Bald MountainPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, 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. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: 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
  4. 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
  5. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, staffing, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.