FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Idaho

Beaver Ridge Lookout

Clearwater National Forest lookout: a 1919 camp, a 1922 log cabin, then the 1963 R-6 flat cab that stands today and is staffed in fire season.

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
Staffed during fire season (as of 2025)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Type unknownR-6 flat cab on a 12-foot concrete baseThe design: R-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1922
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Clearwater National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Idaho
Coordinates
46.51124, −114.67897
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-beaver-ridge-2

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 3.4 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. 1919 EventCamp located hereSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1922 BuiltLog cabin with cupola built by the Forest ServiceSources: nhlr.org, fs.usda.gov
  3. No record between 1922 and 1963
  4. 1963 Replaced by a new structureR-6 flat cab on a 12-foot concrete base replaced the 1922 cabinSources: nhlr.org, fs.usda.gov, firelookout.com
  5. 1977 First staffedEarliest staff entry on the Idaho site's listSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  6. No record between 1977 and 2009
  7. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to the National Historic Lookout RegisterSources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  8. 2022 StaffedIdaho site lists staffing for 2022 to 2024Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Clearwater National Forest lookout sits at 7,370 feet, about eight miles southeast of Lolo Pass.1,2 A camp went up on the ridge in 1919.3,2 In 1922 the Forest Service built a log cabin with a cupola there.1,4 The lookout that stands today went up in 1963. It is an R-6 flat cab on a 12-foot concrete base, and it replaced that cabin.1,4,2 The site was registered with the National Historic Lookout Register in 2009.1,3

Sources differ on the cab. The register and the lookout site both describe a flat cab, but the Forest Association's Idaho list gives a two-story cab.1,3,5

The Idaho site lists known staff from 1977, with entries for 1990 to 1998 and 2022 to 2024.3 It says the lookout is staffed every fire season.3 The firelookout.com page says it is staffed during the summer.2 The sources I read record no fire or other incident at the lookout.

Today the lookout still stands, and the Idaho site lists it as a drive-up, staffed lookout.3,5 I found no posted visiting rules or rental listing for it, so check with the Clearwater National Forest before you plan a trip.

  1. Beaver Ridge Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/beaver-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Beaver Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, http://www.firelookout.com/id/beaverridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Beaver Ridge Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/beaver-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Clearwater National Forest Lookouts (list compiled June 2016), USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259185 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Idaho lookouts list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Beaver Ridge Lookout
Beaver Ridge LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Sources

  1. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: name, location, status, staffing, 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
  2. 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.