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Fire lookout · Boise County, Idaho

Pilot Peak Lookout

A 1932 L-4 cab on a concrete base on the Boise National Forest, later converted to a radio building; drive-up and repurposed. Not the Payette Pilot Peak.

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
Trail
Listed as drive-up on Idaho Fire Lookouts. Firelookout.com places it 9 miles SSW of Lowman. No public-access rule found in the sources.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingL-4 cab with catwalk on a 10-foot concrete base (NHLR; Firelookout.com)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1932
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,128 ft (2,477 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Boise National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Boise County, Idaho
Coordinates
43.95973, −115.68605
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-pilot-peak

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 3.9 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. 1932 BuiltL-4 cab built on a concrete base on the Boise National ForestSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1932 and 1964
  3. 1964 StaffedKnown staff listed for 1964 (Idaho Fire Lookouts)Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1974 StaffedKnown staff listed for 1974 to 1982, relief role (Idaho Fire Lookouts)Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  5. No record between 1974 and 2011
  6. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, September 29, 2011Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  7. 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.

Pilot Peak shares its name with another lookout on the Payette National Forest, so check which one you are reading about.1 The tower told here stands on the Boise National Forest, about nine miles south-southwest of Lowman.2,3 The lookout went up in 1932 as an L-4 cab, fitted with a catwalk and set on a concrete base.2,3,4 Firelookout.com gives the base as 10 feet, and the site sits at about 8,128 feet.3,4 None of the pages I read says why it was built.

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists known staff for 1964 and for 1974 to 1982, and it asks readers to say who staffed the tower, or when.4 I did not find a fire named for this tower in the pages I read.

The tower is no longer a plain lookout.3,4 Firelookout.com says it was converted to a radio building,3 and Idaho Fire Lookouts tags it as repurposed.4 When the register listed it in 2011, it described the tower as in active use, and it recorded the registration date as September 29, 2011.2

Idaho Fire Lookouts tags the site as drive-up.4 The sources do not say whether the public may go inside. Check with the Boise National Forest before you go, and do not enter the building without permission.

  1. Pilot Peak Lookout (Payette National Forest), National Historic Lookout Register, http://www.nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/pilot-peak-lookout-payette-national-forest/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Pilot Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/pilot-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Pilot Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/pilotpeak320.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Pilot Peak, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/pilot-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Pilot Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Pilot Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Pilot Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Pilot Peak L.O.
Pilot Peak L.OPhoto: Mike Garske, via firelookout.com · source
Pilot Peak L.O.
Pilot Peak L.OPhoto: Mike Garske, via firelookout.com · source
Pilot Peak
Pilot PeakPhoto: idahofirelookouts.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.

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: 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: what it is built of, design, 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, 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.