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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Castle Butte Lookout

A 1950 L-4 cab on a stone base, the third lookout on this Clearwater National Forest point since 1916, now a recreation.gov rental reached via the historic Lolo Motorway.

Visit & stay

You can rent this lookout for overnight stays through recreation.gov.

Sleeps
Up to 4 people

Overview Castle Butte Lookout is a unique cabin perched on a rocky point, 6,659 feet above sea level. It offers breathtaking, 360-degree views of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, the Seven Devils Mountains, the Great Burn area and the deep canyons of the North Fork Clearwater River's upper drainages. A cabin was first constructed on this site in 1916 and was replaced in 1928 with a log cabin featuring a cupola. The current lookout was built in 1950. Access to the lookout is via the Lolo Motorway, a primitive, single-lane road constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 1930s. It is not recommended for large RVs, vehicles with low ground clearance or trailers. Guests should be prepared to walk about 100 feet up steep, rocky terrain to reach the lookout. Castle Butte Lookout is equipped with a few creature comforts, but guests will need to bring some gear and supplies to help make their stay enjoyable. The panoramic view guarantees a memorable stay. Recreation Hikers can follow the paths of the Nez Perce and Lewis and Clark on the historic Lolo Trail. The Lolo Motorway is popular with off-road vehicle enthusiasts. Click here for an Idaho OHV safety message. Huckleberries are abundant in the summer, offering good berry picking opportunities. Facilities Castle Butte Lookout can accommodate four people and comes equipped with two twin beds with foam mattresses, two cots, a table with two chairs, mop & bucket, a propane cook stove, propane lights, propane heater and propane. A pit toilet is located in a separate building outside. Click here for additional cabin details. The cabin does not have electricity or water. Guests should bring their own water supply as there is no close water source. Guests must provide their own emergency lighting, garbage bags, bedding, matches, toilet paper, cookware and cooking utensils. The cabin should be cleaned before departure. Natural Features The lookout is surrounded by a rocky landscape that quickly gives way to dense forests of lodgepole and ponderosa pines. This unique facility offers an ideal vantage point to watch sunrises and sunsets, and gaze at the stars. Wildlife enthusiasts may spot eagles, bears, moose, elk, deer and mountain goats. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (208) 942-0313. Nearby Attractions The Lolo Motorway stretches for 100 miles through scenic mountain landscapes. Summer visitors can see meadows and hillsides blanketed in colorful wildflowers. Travelers should be prepared for rough, sometimes treacherous conditions. No services are located along this road, so travelers should have plenty of gas, food and water for the drive.

Book on recreation.gov

Rental details from recreation.gov, checked 12 Oct 2026. Rules, fees and seasons change, so confirm on the booking page before you go. Data source: ridb.recreation.gov

Access

Open to the public. Reached via the Lolo Motorway, a primitive CCC-built road not recommended for RVs, trailers or low-clearance vehicles; about a 100 ft walk up steep terrain from parking to the cabin.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About 100 feet of steep, rocky walking from the road to the lookout
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingL-4 cab on a 10-foot stone base, 14x14 ft with catwalkThe designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,632 ft (2,021 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Clearwater National Forest, Lochsa Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.43423, −115.22025
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 12 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-castle-butte

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 3.8 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. 1916 BuiltFirst lookout: a frame cabinSource: nhlr.org
  2. 1928 Replaced by a new structureFrame cabin replaced by an R-1 log cabin with cupolaSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  3. No record between 1928 and 1950
  4. 1950 BuiltCurrent 14x14 ft L-4 cab with catwalk on a 10-foot stone baseSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1950 and 2004
  6. 2004 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 22, 2004 as US 573 / ID 43, nominated by Virginia TillotsonSource: nhlr.org
  7. No record between 2004 and 2026
  8. 2026 Opened as a rentalCurrently rehabbed and listed in the Forest Service recreation rental programSources: nhlr.org, recreation.gov
  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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Castle Butte has carried a lookout since 1916, when the Forest Service put up a simple frame cabin on this rocky point above the North Fork Clearwater drainages.1 That cabin lasted twelve years; in 1928 it was replaced with a log cabin topped by a cupola.1,2 The building standing today is the third on the site: a square L-4 cab, fourteen feet to a side with a catwalk, raised on a stone foundation about ten feet tall and finished in 1950.1

The lookout sits on the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho County, at 6,632 feet, within the Lochsa Ranger District.1 It was nominated to the National Historic Lookout Register by Virginia Tillotson and registered on March 22, 2004, as US 573 (ID 43).1 Getting there means driving the Lolo Motorway, a primitive single-lane road the Civilian Conservation Corps built through this country in the early 1930s, tracing part of the historic Lolo Trail used by the Nez Perce and by Lewis and Clark; the road is not kind to RVs, trailers, or low-clearance vehicles.3

The cabin has since been rehabbed and brought into the Forest Service's recreation rental program.1,2 Today it sleeps up to four, with two twin beds, two cots, a propane stove, propane lights and heat, and a separate pit toilet outside — no electricity or running water, so guests haul in their own.3 From the catwalk the view runs across the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, the Seven Devils, the Great Burn, and the canyons below.3 It remains open to the public on a nightly reservation through recreation.gov, reached by a short, steep scramble of about a hundred feet from where the road ends.3

  1. Castle Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/castle-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Castle Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/castlebutte.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Castle Butte Lookout, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234325 (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Castle Butte Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Castle Butte Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Castle Butte Lookout
Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Castle Butte Lookout
Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Castle Butte Lookout
Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Castle Butte Lookout interior
Castle Butte Lookout interiorPhoto: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Castle Butte in 1924
Castle Butte in 1924 (1924)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, via firelookout.com · source
Castle Butte in 1986
Castle Butte in 1986 (1986)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, via firelookout.com · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

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: 1950
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1928
    • recreation.gov: 1950

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, 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. Recreation Information Database (recreation.gov) Gave us: ownership, access, rental details, links Data source: ridb.recreation.gov · Public data from the US government · retrieved 12 Oct 2026
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association: lookout rentals Gave us: rental details, links Forest Fire Lookout Association rentals list (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only (state, name, booking link, manager, closure note), no prose copied. The FFLA says it is not involved in managing any rental program. · retrieved 12 Oct 2026
  5. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: what it is built of, design, 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.