FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Adams County, Idaho

Jackley Mountain Lookout

Also known as Jackley

Abandoned 1932 L-4 ground cabin in Adams County, Idaho: patrol point 1928, last staffed 1948, NHLR-registered 2020, hike-in only and reported beyond repair.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. On Payette National Forest land; reached only on foot with no trail to the lookout, per the NHLR 2019 visit report and Idaho Fire Lookouts' hike-in tag. Judged public because no closure or permission requirement appears in the sources read.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
No trail to the lookout (NHLR 2019 visit report). A 1962 USGS station description places it 5 miles north of a road end at Black Lake.
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 1948)

Facts

Status
Standing sources disagree
Type
Ground-level cabL-4The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1932
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,751 ft (2,667 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Payette National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Adams County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.24856, −116.52178
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-jackley-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. 1928 EventEstablished as a patrol point.Sources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 Built14 x 14 ground cabin with L-4 cab constructed (NHLR gives R1/L-4 ground cabin).Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1942 StaffedAlton Harrington listed as lookout.Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1948 Last staffedLast season the lookout was staffed (Forest Lookouts); NHLR says no longer staffed after 1948.Sources: idaholookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  5. 1949 AbandonedAbandoned, per Idaho Fire Lookouts and firelookout.com.Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  6. No record between 1949 and 2019
  7. 2019 EventNHLR visit report (June 19, 2019, Wyatt Griffis): condition poor, comments say the lookout appears to be beyond repair; no trail to the lookout.Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered with the National Historic Lookout Register on September 29, 2020; nominated by Brad Eells.Source: nhlr.org
  9. 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.

Jackley Mountain Lookout is a ground cabin on a peak of roughly 8,750 feet in Adams County, Idaho, within the Payette National Forest.1,2 The site began as a patrol point in 1928, and a 14-by-14 ground cabin with an L-4 cab went up on it in 1932.3,4,1

The National Historic Lookout Register calls it an R1/L-4 ground cabin.1 The staff record is thin. Alton Harrington is the only lookout named in the sources I read, listed for 1942.2,3,5 The Forest Lookouts record says 1948 was the last season the lookout was staffed, and the NHLR says it was no longer staffed after 1948.4,1 Idaho Fire Lookouts and firelookout.com both date its abandonment to 1949.2,3

Since then the lookout has stood abandoned, and firelookout.com says it is still there.2,3 A June 2019 visit report on the NHLR marks the shutters, wood, stairs and glass as not OK and concludes the lookout appears to be beyond repair.1 The NHLR added it on September 29, 2020, with Brad Eells as nominator.1

Getting there is the hard part. Idaho Fire Lookouts tags it as a hike-in, and the NHLR visit report notes there is no trail to the lookout.2,1 A 1962 U.S. Geological Survey station description places it 5 miles north of a road end at Black Lake.4

Today the cabin is still standing on National Forest land.1,3 Given the 2019 report, do not climb it or rely on it for shelter.

  1. Jackley Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/jackley-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Jackley Mountain, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/jackley-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Jackley Fire Lookout, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/jackley.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Jackley - Forest Lookouts (Idaho), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/jackley.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Alton Harrington, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/lookout-staff/alton-harrington/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Jackley in 2002
Jackley in 2002 (2002)Photo: Shawn Ogden and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Jackley in 2021
Jackley in 2021 (2021)Photo: Shawn Ogden and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Jackley Mountain
Jackley MountainPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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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 whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Standing
    • NHLR: Standing
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Standing
    • Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com): Gone
    • OpenStreetMap: Ruins

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered. idahofirelookouts.com's status is read from a short summary.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, 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: 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, status, agency, access, 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.