FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Hell's Half Acre Lookout

Also known as Hells Half Acre Mountain

Bitterroot NF lookout: a 1930 tree platform, an L-4 tower, then a 1960 R-6 cab on a concrete base; drive-up, staffed in fire season, wrapped against fires in 2013 and 2017.

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
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2025)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6The designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
8,116 ft (2,474 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.64583, −114.62833
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-hells-half-acre

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 3.3 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. 1930 BuiltFirst lookout: a platform in a 40-foot tree top.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 BuiltDisputed: firelookout.com and Forest Lookouts date a 40-foot pole L-4 tower to 1934; the register and Idaho Fire Lookouts say 1940.Sources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1940 Replaced by a new structureThe register and Idaho Fire Lookouts date an L-4 cab on a 10-foot tower to 1940.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1945 First staffedEarliest named staffer on Idaho Fire Lookouts' known-staff list; the list may not be complete.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  5. No record between 1945 and 1960
  6. 1960 BuiltCurrent R-6 flat-top cab on a 10-foot concrete base. A 1959 base build is also reported.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1960 and 1997
  8. 1997 StaffedMark and Rhett Moak staffed the lookout each fire season, 1997 to 2016.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  9. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered with the National Historic Lookout Register, April 24, 2009.Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2013 FireCab wrapped in fire-retardant material as a precaution against a nearby wildfire; staff moved temporarily to Salmon Mountain.Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  11. 2017 FireCab wrapped in fire-retardant material again; staff evacuated by helicopter.Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  12. 2025 StaffedIdaho Fire Lookouts says Mark and Rhett Moak staffed the lookout again.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  13. 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.

Hell's Half Acre began in 1930 as a platform set in the top of a 40-foot tree on the Bitterroot National Forest, in the Magruder Corridor.1,2 Sources disagree about what came next.1,2,3,4 The National Historic Lookout Register and Idaho Fire Lookouts date an L-4 cab on a 10-foot tower to 1940, while firelookout.com and an Idaho lookout history site put a 40-foot pole L-4 tower up in 1934.1,2,3,4 The current R-6 cab stands on a 10-foot concrete base, and the register, firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts all give 1960 as its build year.1,2,3 That history site adds that Dave Langley and a two-man crew built a cinder-block base with an R-6 cab in 1959, and a March 2, 1960 Ravalli Republic item reports that a new lookout house went up at the site.4

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists named staff from 1945 onward.2 The register says the lookout gets regular staffing during fire season.1 Mark and Rhett Moak staffed it every season from 1997 to 2016.2 The lookout has also been wrapped against nearby fires.2,4 In 2013 it was covered in fire-retardant material and the staff moved temporarily to Salmon Mountain.2,4 In 2017 it was wrapped again, and the staff were evacuated by helicopter.2,4

The register recorded the lookout on April 24, 2009.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts says the Moaks staffed it again in 2025.2

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the lookout as drive-up and staffed today.2 The University of Idaho's Keeping Watch project places it in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, along the Idaho-Montana line.5 A lookout interviewed for that project says this site can be driven to.5 The register says the view takes in the upper Selway River and the neighboring Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, so the two sources name different wilderness areas.1,5 Because it is a working fire lookout in season, check with the Bitterroot National Forest before planning a visit.1,2

  1. Hell's Half Acre Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/hells-half-acre-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Hell's Half Acre Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/hells-half-acre-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Hells Half Acre Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/hellshalfacre.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Hells Half Acre Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/hells-half-acre-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Hell's Half Acre Lookout, Keeping Watch, Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning, University of Idaho, https://cdil.lib.uidaho.edu/keeping-watch/items/hell-s-half-acre.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Hell's Half Acre Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Hell's Half Acre Lookout, 1955
(1955)Photo: Robert Evans, lookout observer 1955-56, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Hells Half Acre in 1930
Hells Half Acre in 1930 (1930)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Robert Evans, and Jim Chapman, via firelookout.com · source
Hells Half Acre in 1955
Hells Half Acre in 1955 (1955)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Robert Evans, and Jim Chapman, via firelookout.com · source
Hells Half Acre in 1979
Hells Half Acre in 1979 (1979)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Robert Evans, and Jim Chapman, via firelookout.com · source
Hells Half Acre in 2003
Hells Half Acre in 2003 (2003)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Robert Evans, and Jim Chapman, via firelookout.com · source
Hells Half Acre in 2003
Hells Half Acre in 2003 (2003)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Robert Evans, and Jim Chapman, 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.

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 year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1960
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1934

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

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, staffing, 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, 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

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