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Fire lookout · Kootenai County, Idaho

Frost Peak Lookout

30-foot L-4 pole tower on Frost Peak from 1934, replaced by a treated-timber tower in 1961-62; gone by 1988, with only scraps found in 2025.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Treated-timber tower gone by 1988; a 2025 visit found only scraps and two outhouse pits

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
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts marks the site drive-up; the October 2025 visit report found only scraps and two outhouse pits

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot pole L-4 tower (1934), replaced by a 30-foot treated-timber tower (1961-62; R-5 or R-6 cab)The designs: L-4, R-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1930
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Coeur d'Alene National Forest; Idaho Department of Lands from 1966
Land
Federal land
Location
Kootenai County, Idaho
Coordinates
47.48011, −116.34363
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-frost-peak

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 its recorded height.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1930 BuiltCrow's nest platform atop Latour Baldy, one mile southSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 Built30-foot pole L-4 tower atop Frost PeakSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1944 StaffedBill Weeks, first name in the known staff listSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  4. No record between 1944 and 1959
  5. 1959 EventPop-up cupola trailer used as the lookout until 1962Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  6. 1961 Replaced by a new structure30-foot treated-timber tower replaced the L-4; sources give 1961 or 1962 and differ on R-5 vs R-6 cabSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1966 EventIdaho Department of Lands took over operationsSource: firelookout.com
  8. 1972 StaffedMark Grorud; recalls a 40-foot wooden towerSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  9. 1973 StaffedBrian Shiplett, 1973-1975; last staffer listedSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  10. No record between 1973 and 1988
  11. 1988 RemovedConfirmed gone; the treated-timber tower (labelled R-6 by firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts) was gone by 1988Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  12. No record between 1988 and 2025
  13. 2025 EventVisit report (October 2, 2025): a few scraps and two believed outhouse pits found; no significant remnantsSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  14. 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.

Frost (Point) Peak rises to 5,832 feet about 11 miles southwest of Kellogg in Kootenai County.1 A crow's nest platform on Latour Baldy, one mile south, was used from 1930.1,2,3 A 30-foot pole L-4 tower went up on the summit in 1934.1,2,3

Known staff lists run from 1944 to 1975. Bill Weeks is the first name listed, for 1944, and Brian Shiplett appears for 1973 to 1975.2,1 Mark Grorud, who staffed the peak in 1972, remembered a 40-foot wooden tower, which does not match the 30-foot figure given elsewhere.2

A pop-up cupola trailer served as the lookout from 1959 until 1962.1 The treated-timber tower that replaced the L-4 is dated 1961 or 1962, depending on the source.3,2,1 Forest Lookouts gives it an R-5 cab, while the other two sites call it an R-6.3,2,1

The Idaho Department of Lands took over operations in 1966.1 The treated-timber tower was gone by 1988, and Idaho Fire Lookouts lists it as confirmed gone that year.1,2

Idaho Fire Lookouts marks the site as drive-up and gone.2 Its visit report, dated October 2, 2025, found a few scraps and what the writers believe are two outhouse pits, with some wire and cans but no significant remnants.2 No source says whether the site is open to the public today.

  1. Frost (Point) Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/frostpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Frost Peak Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/frost-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Frost Peak, Forest Lookouts (idaholookouts.weebly.com), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/frost-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Frost Peak Lookout
Frost Peak 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: design, height, 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, height, status, agency, 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

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