FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Boundary County, Idaho

Mollies Lookout

Mollies lookout, Kaniksu National Forest: L-4 cab built 1934, abandoned 1949, destroyed 1968; concrete footings remain at a hike-in summit per a 2018 guide.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab destroyed in 1968; a 2018 hike guide describes concrete footings at the summit

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. Hike-in summit reached by a trail described in a September 2018 hike guide, which mentions no closure or permit; not checked against current Forest Service notices

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About 3.9 miles round trip with about 1,800 feet of gain from a trailhead off FS 46. The guide rates it difficult, warns that the forest road is rough, and makes the footings the turnaround point.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab built atop the peakThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Kaniksu National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Boundary County, Idaho
Coordinates
48.86142, −116.82930
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-mollies

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 4.2 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. 1927 EventAlidade and tent set up on Phoebe Tip, one mile north of the peakSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1932 StaffedErnest Grambo listed, with a pet squirrel; this date is earlier than the 1934 cab date on the same pageSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  3. 1934 BuiltL-4 cab built atop MolliesSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, outthereoutdoors.com
  4. 1938 StaffedTheon McMahan listed; the same page also lists him for the 1930sSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  5. 1949 AbandonedCab abandonedSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, outthereoutdoors.com
  6. No record between 1949 and 1968
  7. 1968 DestroyedRemains destroyed; concrete footings leftSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, outthereoutdoors.com
  8. 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.

The Mollies lookout stood on a peak in the Kaniksu National Forest, in Boundary County, Idaho, about five miles north-northwest of Upper Priest Lake.1,2 In 1927, seven years before the cab, an alidade and a tent went up on Phoebe Tip, a mile north of the peak.1,2 The peak's L-4 cab, a 14-by-14-foot prefabricated live-in cabin design, was built in 1934.1,2,3

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists Ernest Grambo for 1932, with a pet squirrel, and Theon McMahan for 1938.2 That 1932 staffing entry predates the 1934 cab date the same page gives, so the page's dates do not fully line up.2

The cab was given up in 1949, and its remains were destroyed in 1968.1,2,4 A 2018 hike guide reports that only concrete footings are left, and suggests them as a spot to rest and take in the scenery.4

Visitors reach the summit on foot.2 The guide describes a round trip of 3.9 miles with about 1,800 feet of climbing from a trailhead off FS 46, and rates the hike difficult.4 It says the forest road to the trailhead is especially rough, and that all but high-clearance 4WD vehicles might find it impassable.4 The guide mentions no closure or permit, but it is dated September 2018, so check current conditions with the Forest Service before you go.4

  1. Mollies Fire Lookout Cabin, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.firelookout.com/id/mollies.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Mollies Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/northern-idaho/mollies-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Cabin Architecture, Keeping Watch, University of Idaho Library, https://cdil.lib.uidaho.edu/keeping-watch/about/cabin-architecture.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Hiking The Mollies, Out There Outdoors, https://outthereoutdoors.com/hiking-the-mollies-priest-lake-idaho/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Mollies Lookout
Mollies 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: dates, 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. 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.