Fire lookout · Clearwater County, Idaho
Black Mountain Lookout
A Clearwater National Forest summit lookout first established in 1932, with the present R-6 cab on a 10-foot base from 1972 and still staffed in summer.
- Standing
- Open to the public
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Open to the public. Listed as hike-in and actively staffed. A Forest Service tower; the pages read do not state visiting rules.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- No, you have to hike
- Trail
- Listed as hike-in by Idaho Fire Lookouts; no trail details found in the pages read.
- Staffing
- Staffed during fire season
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Two-story building14-by-14-foot modified R-6 flattop cab with catwalk on a 10-foot concrete block baseThe designs: R-6, L-4
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1932 sources disagree
- Height
- 10 ft (3.0 m)
- Elevation
- 7,077 ft (2,157 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service (North Fork Ranger District)
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Clearwater County, Idaho
- Coordinates
- 46.87889, −115.55167
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-id-black-mountain
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 4.1 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
- 1932 BuiltLookout established with an L-4 cabSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- No record between 1932 and 1952
- 1952 Altered10-foot concrete base built under the L-4 cabSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- 1963 StaffedFirst known staff year listed by Idaho Fire LookoutsSource: idahofirelookouts.com
- 1972 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
- 1972 Replaced by a new structureR-6 flat cab replaced the L-4 cab on the same 10-foot base; register gives 1972 as build yearSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- No record between 1972 and 2009
- 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 6, 2009Source: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Black Mountain Lookout stands on the Clearwater National Forest in Clearwater County, Idaho, at about 7,077 feet.1,2
According to the register, the site dates back to the 1930s.1 Kamstra's page and Idaho Fire Lookouts date an L-4 cab on the site to 1932.2,3 A 10-foot concrete base was built in 1952 under that cab.2,3 In 1972 an R-6 flat cab took the place of the L-4 cab on that same base.2,3 The register gives 1972 as the build year for the present structure, describes it as a 14-by-14-foot modified R-6 flattop cab with catwalk, and calls it the site's third structure.1
Idaho Fire Lookouts places older patrol towers about one mile southwest and two miles south.3
Idaho Fire Lookouts lists known staff starting in 1963.3 Kamstra's page says summer staffing continues.2 The same site reports that the tower is currently staffed, in a September 2025 article.3
The register added the lookout on April 6, 2009.1 It lists the tower as in active service under the U.S. Forest Service, with the North Fork Ranger District as cooperator.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts describes the visit as hike-in.3 The pages read do not describe visiting rules or trail conditions, so anyone planning a hike should check with the North Fork Ranger District first.
- Black Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/black-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Black Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout, https://www.firelookout.com/id/blackmtn267.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Black Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/black-mountain-lookout-2/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
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 the year it was built.
- NHLR: 1972
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1952
Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.
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
- 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: what it is built of, 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
- Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) (opens another site) Gave us: 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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
- NHLR register entry US 763 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- NHLR register entry (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA Idaho lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Photos of staffed lookouts on Nez Perce/Clearwater National Forests (opens another site)
- Black Mtn. on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Black Mountain Lookout on idahofirelookouts.com (opens another site)
- Black Mountain 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.