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Fire lookout · Boise County, Idaho

Hawley Mountain Lookout

A 1935 L-4 cab on the summit of Hawley Mountain in Boise County; a forest road reaches it, and a climbing guide calls it no longer in use.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Forest road FS-374 runs north from Harris Creek Summit about 10.4 miles to the lookout; high clearance is needed in a couple of spots, per a climbing guide.
Staffing
Staffed only in emergencies

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingL-4 cab on a concrete base (8 or 10 feet; sources differ)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
7,300 ft (2,225 m)
Agency
Boise National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Boise County, Idaho
Coordinates
43.99239, −116.03046
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-hawley-mountain

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.

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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. 1935 BuiltL-4 cab on a concrete base; described as the only structure ever built on the summitSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1935 and 1959
  3. 1959 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey station description: wooden building about 14 feet square on a concrete baseSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1963 EventTwo-story lookout house with an R4-80 cab and concrete-walled lower level, per Forest Lookouts; not reconciled with the 1935 cabSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1972 EventA youth who broke into a lookout atop Hawley Mountain was caught; the Boise National Forest began fitting lookouts with break-in recordersSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1972 and 2020
  7. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 28, 2020, nominated by Brad EellsSource: nhlr.org
  8. 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.

Hawley Mountain Lookout stands on the summit of Hawley Mountain in Boise County, in the Boise National Forest, at about 7,300 feet.1,2

The register, Idaho Fire Lookouts and a climbing guide all date the lookout to 1935.1,3,4 Firelookout.com describes an L-4 cab on a concrete base, and calls it the only structure ever built on the summit.2

The sources disagree on the base and on later changes. The register describes an R1/L-4 cabin on an enclosed 8-foot tower, and Idaho Fire Lookouts gives an 8-foot concrete base, but firelookout.com gives 10 feet.1,3,2 Forest Lookouts quotes a 1959 Coast and Geodetic Survey description of a wooden building about 14 feet square on a concrete base.5 It also lists a 1963 two-story lookout house with an R4-80 cab and a concrete-walled lower level.5 None of these sources reconcile the 1963 house with the 1935 cab.

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists Mike Rutledge on staff in the 1980s, and labels the tower "Drive-Up Emergency Status," a phrase the page does not explain.3

A November 1972 newspaper item, quoted by Forest Lookouts, says Idaho's fire lookouts were unmanned except during fire watches. It reports that a youth who broke into a lookout atop Hawley Mountain was caught, and that the Boise National Forest was fitting mountaintop lookouts with recorders that go off when someone breaks in.5 The pages read name no specific fire spotted from this lookout.

The National Historic Lookout Register recorded the tower on September 28, 2020, on a nomination by Brad Eells.1

A climbing guide calls the lookout no longer in use and still standing.4 It describes a forest road, FS-374, that runs north from Harris Creek Summit about 10.4 miles to the lookout, and says a high-clearance vehicle is needed in a couple of spots.4 The Keeping Watch archive places the summit at 43.99239, -116.03041, within about 4 meters of the register's coordinates.1,6 The sources do not say whether the cab is open to visitors. Anyone planning a trip should check with the Boise National Forest first, and treat the cab as off limits unless the forest says it is open.

  1. Hawley Mountain Lookout, US 1429, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/hawley-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Hawley Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/hawley.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Hawley Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/hawley-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Hawley Mountain 7301, Idaho Climbing Guide, https://idahoaclimbingguide.com/bookupdates/hawley-mountain-7301 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Hawley Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Idaho), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/hawley-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Hawley Mountain, Keeping Watch, University of Idaho Library, https://cdil.lib.uidaho.edu/keeping-watch/items/hawley-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Hawley Mountain Lookout - 2012
Hawley Mountain Lookout - 2012 (2012)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1937
1937 (1937)Photo: Vernon Woodman, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Hawley Mtn. in 1937
Hawley Mtn. in 1937 (1937)Photo: Kenneth Meyer and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Hawley Mtn. L.O.
Hawley Mtn. L.OPhoto: Kenneth Meyer and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.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. 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: 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) 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, 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.