FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Shoshone County, Idaho

Maple Peak Lookout Site

Maple Peak lookout site, Shoshone County: L-4 cab from 1938, moved to Sunset Peak in 1950; only a rock foundation remains; road and hiking access.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab moved to Sunset Peak in 1950; only the rock foundation remains at Maple Peak. No source says what became of the moved cab.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Road reaches the point; a hiker describes a spur road and a hiking route. No closure or permit rule in the pages read. Road condition not confirmed.

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
About 8 miles one way: roughly 6 miles on the State Line Trail from Thompson Pass, then a 2-mile road walk on the Maple Peak spur road.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab on a rock foundation (cab moved to Sunset Peak in 1950)The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1938
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,750 ft (1,753 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Shoshone County, Idaho
Coordinates
47.63305, −115.76131
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-maple-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 4.1 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. 1938 BuiltSite received an L-4 cab. Register's Built field says 1950 (see corrections)Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1950 Built'Built' field on FFLOS detail pageSource: FFLOS register entry
  3. 1950 MovedL-4 cab moved to Sunset Peak LookoutSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. No record between 1950 and 2019
  5. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 18, 2019; nominated by Tom TaylorSource: firetower.org
  6. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Maple Peak's lookout received an L-4 cab in 1938.1,2,3 The site sits just inside Idaho, close to the Montana state line.3 It lies in Shoshone County and the Coeur d'Alene National Forest, at 5,750 feet (1,753 meters).4,1,2

The sources disagree about the build year. The register lists 1950 as the year the lookout was built, but its own description says the lookout was moved to Sunset Peak that year.4 The other sites date the cab to 1938 and the move to 1950.1,2,3 We follow that reading.

The builder, Al Ehytonen of New Leipzig, North Dakota, signed the mortar inside the foundation.4,3 In 1950 the cab was moved to Sunset Peak, which can be seen from Maple Peak.4,1,2,3

Sunset Peak then had other lookouts.5 Idaho Fire Lookouts says a concrete two-story cab was built there in 1957 and marks the site destroyed or repurposed in 1975.5 The sources do not say what became of the moved cab itself.5,6 The register says the last lookout on Sunset Peak is long gone.6

At Maple Peak, the rock foundation is what remains, with walls about five feet high.4,3 Sunset Peak has become an electronics site. Its road is well kept, a roof covers the old cinder-block foundation, and the cement pad where the cabin stood is still easy to find, with two benchmarks.5,6

Maple Peak can be reached by road. A hiker's account describes a spur road from Montana, and a hike of about 8 miles one way that includes roughly 6 miles on the State Line Trail from Thompson Pass, then a 2-mile road walk. The author did not know how good the road from Montana is.3 Idaho Fire Lookouts tags the site as drive-up, and the pages we read mention no closure or permit rule.2,3

  1. Maple Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/maplepeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Maple Peak Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/cda-region/maple-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Maple Peak Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, https://willhiteweb.com/idaho_lookouts/maple_peak/clear_peak_067.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Maple Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/id/maple-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Sunset Peak Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/cda-region/sunset-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  6. Sunset Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/id/sunset-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Lookout foundation remains
Lookout foundation remainsPhoto: Tom Taylor, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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: 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, 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.