FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lemhi County, Idaho

Fly Creek Point Lookout

L-4 ground cabin built 1935 as a fire detection site in Challis NF; burned in 1993, sources disagree on cause; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Burned in 1993; no source describes a standing building or any remains today

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?
Yes, you can drive up

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 ground cabinThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Challis National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lemhi County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.68143, −114.56962
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-fly-creek-point

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. 1935 BuiltL-4 ground cabin built as the fire detection site developedSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1935 and 1959
  3. 1959 EventWord that a missing student had walked into a ranch on Warm Springs Creek was relayed by Forest Service telephone from the lookoutSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1960 EventUsed for emergencies in the 1960s (sources give the decade only)Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. No record between 1960 and 1993
  6. 1993 BurnedBurned in 1993; sources disagree on cause (vandal over the winter versus a stranded camper accidentally later that year)Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.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.

Fly Creek Point is in Lemhi County, Idaho, in the Challis National Forest, about 21 miles northwest of Challis.1,2,3 The lookout sat beside the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.1

The site became a fire detection point in 1935, when an L-4 ground cabin went up there.2 The firelookout.com page gives the same build year for the cab.1

One notable episode came in September 1959.2 The Custer County sheriff's office in Challis said the lookout passed word by Forest Service phone that a missing student had walked into a ranch on Warm Springs Creek.2 In the 1960s the cabin was used for emergencies.1,4

The cabin burned in 1993, and our sources disagree on how.1,4,2 Firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts both say a vandal set it on fire over the winter.1,4 The Forest Lookouts page gives a different account: a stranded camper accidentally set fire to the lookout building and a garage near it, later in 1993.2

Today, the Idaho lookout list at firelookout.org marks the site as gone.3 Idaho Fire Lookouts labels its page "Drive-Up Burned," which suggests a road reaches the site.4 No source we read describes what remains on the ground or confirms access, so check with the forest before going.

  1. Fly Creek Point Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com (Rex's Fire Lookout Page), https://www.firelookout.com/id/flycreek.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Fly Creek Point, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/fly-creek-point.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Idaho lookout list, firelookout.org, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Fly Creek Point Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/fly-creek-point-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Fly Creek Point Lookout
Fly Creek Point 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: 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, 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.