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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Dry Diggins Lookout

Nez Perce National Forest lookout: the 1932 L-4 cab blew away in 1967, the 1968 R-6 cab has lost its roof, and it is hike-in and emergency-only.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Listed as hike-in with emergency status; no public visiting described in the sources.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Hike-in per the Idaho lookout list; no trail distance given in these sources.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6 cab on a 10-foot concrete baseThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1932
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
7,828 ft (2,386 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.37153, −116.58961
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-dry-diggins

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

  1. 1932 BuiltL-4 gable-roof cab about a mile southeast of the current siteSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1932 StaffedEarliest known-staff entry on the Idaho list covers 1932–1933; the list runs to 1978–1980 with gapsSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  3. No record between 1932 and 1967
  4. 1967 DestroyedOriginal L-4 cab blew away (register) or blew over (Forest Lookouts)Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. 1968 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  6. 1968 Replaced by a new structureR-6 cab on a 10-foot base; the Idaho list gives 1968 and 1969 for the workSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  7. No record between 1968 and 2013
  8. 2013 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered February 23, 2013 as US 964, ID 102Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  9. 2020 EventRoof blew off over the winter of 2020/2021Source: firelookout.com
  10. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Dry Diggins Lookout is in Idaho County, on the Nez Perce National Forest, at about 2,386 meters.1 The first lookout here was an L-4 cab built in 1932, about a mile southeast of the present site.1,2 The wind took that cab in 1967.1,3

The present tower dates to 1968: an R-6 cab on a 10-foot concrete base.1,4 The Idaho lookout list gives 1968 and 1969 for the work and credits the Cedar Flats Job Corps and a district crew.2 A separate history page describes a cinder-block first floor instead, so the base material is disputed.3 Its known-staff list runs from 1932 to 1980, with gaps.2

The register added the lookout on February 23, 2013.1 Firelookout.com says the tower has been abandoned for decades, and that its roof blew off during the winter of 2020 to 2021.4

Today the Idaho lookout list shows it as hike-in with emergency status, and the register says the cab is available for emergencies.2,1 With the roof gone, the sources give no reason to climb it, and none of them describe public visits.

  1. Dry Diggins Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/dry-diggins-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Dry Diggins Lookout – Idaho Fire Lookouts, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/dry-diggins-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Dry Diggins - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/dry-diggins.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Dry Diggins Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/drydiggins.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Dry Diggins Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Present tower, 1988
Present tower, 1988 (1988)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Original L-4 cab, 1961
Original L-4 cab, 1961 (1961)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Original L-4 cab
Original L-4 cabPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Dry Diggins in 1961
Dry Diggins in 1961 (1961)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Dry Diggins in 1988
Dry Diggins in 1988 (1988)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Dry Diggins in 2015
Dry Diggins in 2015 (2015)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Dry Diggins Lookout
Dry Diggins LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) 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
  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. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page 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
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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

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