Fire lookout · Bonner County, Idaho
Packsaddle Mountain
Bonner County, ID tower site: camp 1915, cupola cabin 1925, 76-ft steel tower 1934, last used 1941; top half dropped 1974, lower 20 ft reused 1977. Gone.
- Gone
- Open to the public
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in 1974 and 1977; no source describes what remains on the summit today
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. One trip account describes hiking, motorcycle and ATV trails to the summit; no closure found in the sources read
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- Reached by forest roads and trails; the route one account describes is rocky and rutty in places
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a towerD-6 style cupola cabin (1925); 76-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7-by-7 cab (1934)House: D-6; tower: Aermotor
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- 1925
- Height
- 76 ft (23.2 m)
- Elevation
- Unknown
- Agency
- Kaniksu National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Bonner County, Idaho
- Coordinates
- 48.03102, −116.35625
- Registers
- Not on a lookout register
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-id-packsaddle-mountain
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 its recorded height.
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
- 1915 EventEstablished as a campSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
- 1922 StaffedCharles Burns and Ranger Smith moved the lookout crew off the summit, 12 September 1922Sources: willhiteweb.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
- 1925 BuiltD-6 style cupola cabin erected on the groundSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
- 1934 Built76-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7 by 7 cab; originally intended for Saddle MountainSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- 1941 Last staffedLast season the lookout was usedSources: willhiteweb.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- No record between 1941 and 1974
- 1974 AbandonedSource: Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com)
- 1974 RemovedAttempt to move the top half failed when an Army helicopter dropped it a mile awaySources: willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
- 1977 MovedRemaining 20 feet became part of a new tower on Lookout Mountain near Priest LakeSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Packsaddle Mountain rises east of Lake Pend Oreille, in Bonner County, Idaho.1,2 A camp was set up on the peak in 1915, and a D-6 style cupola cabin went up there in 1925.3,4
In 1934 a steel Aermotor tower, 76 feet tall with a 7-by-7 cab, went up on the summit.4 The tower had been intended for Saddle Mountain, but a purchasing error sent it to Packsaddle instead.3,5
In September 1922, Charles Burns and a ranger named Smith moved the lookout crew off the mountain.1,4 The lookout was last used in 1941.4,1
In 1974 a plan to relocate the tower's upper half fell through after an Army helicopter dropped it a mile off.3,1 The leftover bottom 20 feet went into a new tower on Lookout Mountain near Priest Lake in 1977.3,5
The Idaho Fire Lookouts page marks the tower as removed, and the Forest Fire Lookout Association list marks it gone.5,2 No source we read describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today.
One trip account says several routes reach the summit, suited to hikers, motorcyclists and ATV riders. It adds that the route it took is fine on foot but has rocky, rutted stretches.1 Nothing we read describes a closure, so the summit appears to be open to the public.
- Packsaddle Mountain Lookout, WillhiteWeb, https://willhiteweb.com/idaho_lookouts/packsaddle_mountain/pictures_060.htm (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Fire lookouts of Idaho list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Packsaddle Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://www.firelookout.com/id/packsaddle.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Packsaddle Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/packsaddle-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Packsaddle Mountain, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/cda-region/packsaddle-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
Photos
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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) Gave us: design, height, agency, ownership, 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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
- Packsaddle Mountain Lookout (WillhiteWeb) (opens another site)
- FFLA Idaho lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Packsaddle Mtn. on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Packsaddle Mountain on idahofirelookouts.com (opens another site)
- Packsaddle Mountain on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.