FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Valley County, Idaho

Bear Valley Lookout

Also known as Bear Valley Mountain

A 1936 46 ft steel tower with a 7x7 ft metal cab, inside the River of No Return Wilderness; sources disagree on tower size and when use ended, and current access is not established.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. NHLR says it is maintained for emergency use. Idaho Fire Lookouts labels it 'Drive-Up Emergency Use' while NHLR places it in the wilderness; no source says it is open to visitors or for rent.

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower7x7 ft metal cab on a 46 ft steel tower (Aermotor MC-40 per Forest Lookouts); a 1959 Coast and Geodetic Survey description gives about 70 ft (disputed)The design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1936
Height
46 ft (14.0 m)
Elevation
8,291 ft (2,527 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Boise National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Valley County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.45786, −115.38245
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-bear-valley

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 3.6 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. 1936 Built46 ft steel tower (Aermotor MC-40 per Forest Lookouts) with a 7x7 ft metal cab erectedSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1936 and 1959
  3. 1959 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey station description gives the tower as about 70 ft with an 8 ft square, 10 ft high cabin; conflicts with 46 ftSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1959 and 1974
  5. 1974 First staffedEarliest year on the Idaho Fire Lookouts known-staff list: relief lookout Linda Bellmer BassSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  6. 1982 Last staffedLast year on the Idaho Fire Lookouts known-staff list (1974-1982). firelookout.com says the tower has not been used since the 1970sSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1982 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 25, 2011 as NHLR US 929 (ID 89), nominated by Luke ChannerSource: nhlr.org
  9. 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.

Bear Valley Lookout sits in Valley County, Idaho, inside the River of No Return Wilderness on the Boise National Forest.1,2 The site is about 8,291 feet up, and firelookout.com places it 19 miles southeast of Warm Lake.2,3

The tower was put up in 1936.1,2,3,4 The register describes a 46-foot steel tower carrying a 7-by-7-foot metal cab, and the Idaho Fire Lookouts and Forest Lookouts pages match that picture.1,3,4 firelookout.com also gives the 1936 date and the 46-foot height.2 A 1959 Coast and Geodetic Survey description, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, puts the tower at about 70 feet with an eight-foot-square cab on top, which conflicts with the 46-foot figure.4 The sources do not reconcile those figures.

The Idaho Fire Lookouts page lists a relief staffer, Linda Bellmer Bass, from 1974 to 1982.3 firelookout.com takes a different view and says the tower has not been used since the 1970s.2 The sources do not say when active use ended.2,3

The National Historic Lookout Register registered the lookout on September 25, 2011, as US 929, and the nomination came from Luke Channer. The register says the lookout is maintained for emergency use.1

Today's status is the least clear part of the record. The Idaho Fire Lookouts page labels the site "Drive-Up Emergency Use," but the register places it inside a wilderness area, and the sources do not explain how both things hold.3,1 None of the sources says whether the lookout can be rented or visited right now.1,2,3,4 Check with the Boise National Forest before planning any trip, and do not go inside the cab unless the Forest Service says it is open.

  1. Bear Valley Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/bear-valley-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Bear Valley Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/bearvalley.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Bear Valley Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/bear-valley-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Bear Valley Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/bear-valley-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bear Valley Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Bear Valley Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Bear Valley Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bear Valley in 1936
Bear Valley in 1936 (1936)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service and Steve Sidlo, via firelookout.com · source
Bear Valley in 1938
Bear Valley in 1938 (1938)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service and Steve Sidlo, via firelookout.com · source
Bear Valley L.O.
Bear Valley L.OPhoto: the U.S. Forest Service and Steve Sidlo, via firelookout.com · source
Bear Valley Lookout
Bear Valley LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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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: 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
  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) Gave us: design, 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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

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