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Fire lookout · Valley County, Idaho

Rice Peak (Blue Point) Lookout

Also known as Rice Peak

A camp from 1916 that became an L-4 cab, now not in use and reached on foot past a forest-road closure that began in 2014.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Forest road FS-478 under a temporary closure that began in 2014 and appeared still in place at the August 2020 guide update. Hike-in only.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Per the 2020 climbing guide: from the Rice Lake trailhead, the summit is 1.0 mile up the Rice Peak Trail. The Boise NF slide show describes a start where the road washes out and a hike of 4.25 miles each way.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 ground cab on a cement foundation, after an earlier log cupola cabinThe designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1922
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,696 ft (2,651 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Valley County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.50722, −115.62798
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-rice-peak-blue-point

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 3.7 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. 1916 EventSite first used as a camp lookout. Forest Lookouts lists an alidade established that year.Sources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1922 BuiltLog cupola cabin, the first structure built on the siteSources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1922 and 1940
  4. 1940 BuiltPresent L-4 ground cab on a cement foundation. The Boise NF slide show heading says 1937 and a Forest Lookouts page gives only 193?; see notesSources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1940 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to the National Historic Lookout Register, July 21, 2012Sources: 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.

The lookout is now called Rice Peak. A Boise National Forest slide show says it was once called Blue Point Lookout and was later renamed Rice Peak Lookout.1 The site started as a camp lookout in 1916, and the register says the first structure there was a log cupola cabin, built in 1922.2,3

Sources disagree on when the present cabin went up. The register, Idaho Fire Lookouts and firelookout.com all give 1940 for the L-4 ground cab, which sits on a cement foundation.2,4,5 The slide show's heading dates the Blue Point Lookout to 1937,1 and a Forest Lookouts page gives only the 1930s, with a question mark.3 I could not settle the date from these sources.

According to the register, the cab has sat unused for several years, and the lookout was added to the register on July 21, 2012.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts lists it as not currently in use, and says its staffing history is not yet documented.4 A climbing guide updated in August 2020 says the cab still stands on the summit.6

Getting there is the hard part. The climbing guide says a temporary closure of forest road FS-478, which started in 2014, appeared to still be in place when the guide was updated.6 From the Rice Lake trailhead, the guide puts the summit one mile up the Rice Peak Trail.6 The slide show describes a different start, where the road washes out, and a hike of about 4.25 miles each way.1 Check with the Cascade Ranger District about current conditions before you plan a trip.2

  1. Solitude and Splendid Views: Lookouts on the Boise National Forest, presentation by Susie Osgood, DocsLib, https://docslib.org/doc/9859271/lookouts-on-the-boise-national-forest (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Rice Peak (Blue Point) Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/rice-peak-blue-point-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Rice Peak (Blue Point) - Forest Lookouts, idaholookouts.weebly.com, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/rice-peak-blue-point.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Rice Peak (Blue Point) Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/rice-peak-blue-point-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Rice Peak (Blue Point) Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/ricepeak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Rice Peak, IDAHO: A Climbing Guide, https://www.idahoaclimbingguide.com/bookupdates/rice-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Rice Peak (Blue Point) Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
July 19, 2012
July 19, 2012 (2012)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
July 19, 2012
July 19, 2012 (2012)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Interior, July 19, 2012
Interior, July 19, 2012 (2012)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1937
1937 (1937)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1916
1916 (1916)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Blue Point in 1916
Blue Point in 1916 (1916)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, the U.S. Forest Service, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Blue Point in 1937
Blue Point in 1937 (1937)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, the U.S. Forest Service, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Blue Point in 1937
Blue Point in 1937 (1937)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, the U.S. Forest Service, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Blue Point in 1937
Blue Point in 1937 (1937)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, the U.S. Forest Service, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Rice Peak in 1968
Rice Peak in 1968 (1968)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, the U.S. Forest Service, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Rice Peak in 1980
Rice Peak in 1980 (1980)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, the U.S. Forest Service, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Rice Peak (Blue Point) L.O.
Rice Peak (Blue Point) L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, the U.S. Forest Service, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Rice Peak in 2012
Rice Peak in 2012 (2012)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, the U.S. Forest Service, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Rice Peak (Blue Point) Lookout
Rice Peak (Blue Point) LookoutPhoto: 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: what it is built of, design, 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: 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, 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

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