Fire lookout · Lemhi County, Idaho
Beartrap Lookout
Lemhi County, ID lookout: 1919 log cabin, 1935 L-4 cab on a log crib; burned in the August 2012 Mustang Complex fire.
- Gone
- Access unknown
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Burned in the August 2012 Mustang Complex fire
Visit & stay
Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.
Access
Access unknown
We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- sources disagree
- Type
- Two-story buildingL-4 cab with catwalk on a two-story log crib base (1935); the first lookout was a log cabin (1919)The design: L-4
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1919
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 8,078 ft (2,462 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Lemhi County, Idaho
- Coordinates
- 45.39143, −114.44392
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-id-beartrap
View from the cab
What the lookout saw from its 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.
This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.
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
- 1919 BuiltFirst Beartrap lookout, a log cabinSources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1919 and 1935
- 1935 BuiltTwo-story L-4 cab with catwalk on a log crib baseSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, idahofirelookouts.com
- No record between 1935 and 1951
- 1951 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Forrest E. Sedgwick of Shoup named as lookouts on Bear TrapSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1951 and 2011
- 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 10, 2011Source: nhlr.org
- 2012 BurnedConsumed by the Mustang Complex fire in August 2012Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
- 2012 RemovedRegister lists the tower as removed in 2012Source: nhlr.org
- 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 24, 2020Source: firetower.org
- TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.
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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Beartrap Lookout stood in Lemhi County, Idaho, in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, at 8,078 feet.1 The Forest Lookouts page places it about eight miles west of Shoup.2
The first lookout on the site was a log cabin, built in 1919.1,2 In 1935 a two-story lookout went up: an L-4 cab with a catwalk, set on a log crib base.1,3,4,2
The earliest staffing we found is from 1951, when a newspaper item named Mr. and Mrs. Forrest E. Sedgwick of Shoup as the lookouts on Bear Trap.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts says it has no documented staffing history for the tower.4 The two sources disagree. We cite the dated 1951 item and note the gap.4,2
The Register lists the tower as registered on October 10, 2011.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register lists its site entry as registered on March 24, 2020.3
The tower burned in the Mustang Complex fire in August 2012.1,4,2 The Register lists it as removed in 2012.1
A photo caption on the Register page reads "Tower remains in August 2019," so the Register holds a photo of the remains from that month.1 We found no source that describes the site today or says whether the public can reach it. Check with the Salmon-Challis National Forest before planning any trip.
- Beartrap Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/beartrap-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Beartrap, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/beartrap.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Beartrap Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/id/beartrap-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Beartrap Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/beartrap-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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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 whether it still stands.
- FFLA: Gone
- NHLR: Standing
- FFLOS: Gone
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Gone
- Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com): Gone
NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered. firelookout.com lists it, but not on its map of standing lookouts. idahofirelookouts.com's status is read from a short summary.
Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) Gave us: register numbers, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) Gave us: 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
- Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) Gave us: what it is built of, 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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
- NHLR register entry US 936 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- FFLOS register entry US 1931 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA Idaho lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Beartrap on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Beartrap Lookout on idahofirelookouts.com (opens another site)
- Beartrap on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.