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Fire lookout · Custer County, Idaho

Cougar Creek Lookout

Gone L-4 cab on a 10-foot log crib, built in 1934 in Idaho's Challis National Forest; last used in 1942 and destroyed in 1967. No source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in 1967 according to all three sites. No source describes what, if anything, remains.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. On Challis National Forest land and listed as hike-in. The level is inferred from the forest and hike-in notes; no source states an access rule.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Listed as hike-in by Idaho Fire Lookouts; no route or distance is given.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Two-story buildingL-4 cab on a 10-foot log cribThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Challis National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Custer County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.69611, −114.86664
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-cougar-creek

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 3.5 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. 1930 EventEarlier log cabin on the site, dated c.1930 by Kresek as quoted on Forest Lookouts (approximate)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 BuiltL-4 cab on a 10-foot log crib; a first floor of log cribbing per KresekSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1937 EventAugust 1937 newspaper item: CCC enrollees building a truck trail to the lookoutSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1942 EventDescribed in a May 1965 Post-Register report as last used in 1942. Not described as staffed.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1942 and 1965
  6. 1965 Condition assessmentMay 1965 report: public safety hazard and potential fire source; a ranger said it would soon be dismantled and the site restoredSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1967 DestroyedDestroyed in 1967 per all three sitesSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  8. 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.

Cougar Creek Lookout was an L-4 cab on a 10-foot log crib, built in 1934 on Challis National Forest land in Custer County, Idaho, about 34 miles northwest of Challis.1,2,3 An earlier log cabin on the site is dated to about 1930 by one account, and that same account says the 1934 cab sat atop a first floor of log cribbing.3

On August 28, 1937, a newspaper item said CCC enrollees were working on a truck trail to the lookout, through what it called Idaho's primitive area.3

A May 1965 report in The Post-Register said the lookout had last been used in 1942 and had since become a public safety hazard and a potential fire source.3 A ranger reported that the building, with its weakened sides and broken windows, would soon be taken down and the site restored.3

All three sites date the lookout's destruction to 1967.1,2,3 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Idaho list also marks it gone.4

No source describes what, if anything, remains at the site today.1,2,3 Idaho Fire Lookouts lists it as a hike-in site and gives no route or distance.2 The site sits on Challis National Forest land, and no source states an access rule.1,2

  1. Cougar Creek Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/cougarcreek.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Cougar Creek Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/cougar-creek-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Cougar Creek - Forest Lookouts, idaholookouts.weebly.com, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/cougar-creek.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Idaho Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Cougar Creek Lookout
Cougar Creek LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.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.

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: dates, 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: what it is built of, design, agency, ownership, 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, 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

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