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Fire lookout · Bonner County, Idaho

Caribou Lookout

Also known as Caribou (Association)

Bonner County cupola-cabin lookout first used in 1921, abandoned by 1952 and later collapsed under snow; listed as gone, with no source describing the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Idaho Fire Lookouts says it collapsed under heavy snow; the FFLA list marks it gone; no source describes what remains

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
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts files the site as hike-in

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabcupola cabinThe design: Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
Unknown
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Unknown
Land
Unknown
Location
Bonner County, Idaho
Coordinates
48.43609, −116.64848
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-caribou

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 3.8 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 EventFirst used with a camp lookoutSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1927 StaffedFire warden's report quoted by Forest Lookouts: two deputy wardens, one lookout and one smoke chaser in the lookout cabinSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1927 and 1952
  4. 1952 AbandonedSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1952 and 1999
  6. 1999 EventCollapsed under heavy snow. firelookout.com gives 1999 with a question mark; Idaho Fire Lookouts places it in the 1990sSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  7. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Firelookout.com dates the site's earliest use to 1921, when a camp lookout was there, and Forest Lookouts lists a camp for that year.1,2 The cupola cabin the sources describe dates from the 1920s.1,2 Idaho Fire Lookouts gives its elevation as 6,210 feet and files it as a hike-in site.3

A fire warden's report from January 1927, quoted by Forest Lookouts, places a smoke chaser, a lookout and two deputy wardens in the cabin that year.2 A September 1928 Northern Idaho News item, also quoted there, mentions a Caribou mountain lookout arriving on a Saturday night.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts has no staffing history on record for this lookout.3

The sources give 1952 as the year the cabin was abandoned.1,2 Firelookout.com says heavy snow brought the cabin down in 1999, a year it marks with a question mark.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts places the collapse in the 1990s.3 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the site as gone.4

No source we read describes what, if anything, is left at the site today, or whether the public can visit it. Anyone planning a visit should check locally first.

  1. Caribou Association Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/caribou.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Caribou (Association), Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/caribou-association.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Caribou Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/northern-idaho/caribou-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Idaho Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Caribou Lookout
Caribou LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page 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
  3. 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
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, 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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