FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Elk Summit Lookout

A 1934 100-foot steel Aermotor tower on Elk Summit near Elk City, Idaho; the Forest Service says it is not accessible to the public and not currently used by the agency.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. Forest Service: tower remains intact, is not currently used, and is not accessible by the public

Visit & stay

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

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Forest Service gives road directions from State Highway 14 (Forest Roads 1199 and 417), but states the tower is not accessible by the public
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot steel Aermotor (MC-40) tower with 7 by 7 ft cab, built 1934 on a summit that has had a lookout since 1911 (crow's nest first)The design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1911
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
6,365 ft (1,940 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests (Elk City Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.87910, −115.53993 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-elk-summit-2

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 4.2 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. 1911 BuiltCrow's nest observation point set up on the summit; NHLR says the summit has been a lookout site since thenSources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1914 StaffedClearwater Republican item (quoted on Forest Lookouts page): A. Rogers left for his lookout on fire patrolSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1915 EventBear entered the government rangers' cabin at Elk Summit and destroyed stored provisions (June 1915 item quoted on Forest Lookouts page)Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1915 and 1934
  5. 1934 Built100-foot steel Aermotor MC-40 tower with 7 x 7 ft cab built on the summit; still standingSources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1934 and 1997
  7. 1997 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 25, 1997 as NHLR US 233, ID 19Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  8. No record between 1997 and 2025
  9. 2025 ClosedForest Service page (last updated June 4, 2025) says the tower is not currently used by the agency and not accessible by the publicSource: fs.usda.gov
  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.

Elk Summit Lookout sits on a summit about six miles northwest of Elk City, Idaho, in the Nez Perce National Forest.1,2 The summit has been a lookout site since 1911, when a crow's nest observation point was set up there.1,3 In 1934 a 100-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab went up on the summit, and that is the tower standing there today.1,4,3,2,5 According to the Idaho Fire Lookouts site, no other steel lookout survives on the Nez Perce.3

Newspaper items quoted on a local history page offer a few glimpses of early staffing.5 A Clearwater Republican item dated June 12, 1914, says A. Rogers had set out for his lookout on fire patrol.5 A June 25, 1915, item reports that a bear entered the government rangers' cabin at Elk Summit and destroyed the supplies kept there for the rangers.5 The Idaho Fire Lookouts site says its records do not yet include a staffing history for the tower.3

The National Historic Lookout Register listed the tower on August 25, 1997, as US 233.1,3 The register's own entry says the Elk City Ranger District still uses the tower when needed.1 A Forest Service page last updated June 4, 2025, reports that the tower remains intact but is not in use by the agency at present.4 The two accounts do not match, and nothing gathered here settles which one describes the tower today.1,4

The Forest Service says the tower is not accessible to the public.4 The log cabin at its base may be added to the agency's cabin rental program later, according to the same page.4 Snowmobilers frequently stop at the site to rest.4

  1. Elk Summit Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/elk-summit-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Elk Summit Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/elksummit.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Elk Summit Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/elk-summit-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Elk Summit Lookout, Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/nezperce-clearwater/recreation/elk-summit-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Elk Summit, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/elk-summit.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Elk Summit Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Ground cabin
Ground cabinPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Aerial view of ground cabin
Aerial view of ground cabinPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Elk Summit in 1952
Elk Summit in 1952 (1952)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Elk Summit L.O.
Elk Summit L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Elk Summit Lookout
Elk Summit 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.

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 location by 9.3 km (5.8 mi).

    • NHLR: 45.87910, −115.53993
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 45.87000, −115.42000

    The map uses the position from NHLR.

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, dates, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.