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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Rock Rabbit Fire Lookout

Also known as Rock Rabbit Point

Payette NF site in Idaho County, ID, inside the River of No Return Wilderness: 1929 tree platform and cabin remain; 46-ft steel tower removed in 1977 or 1981; NHLR-registered 1999.

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?
Unknown
Trail
Firelookout.com places the site 8 miles south of Chamberlain G.S. No source gives a route.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing sources disagree
Type
Ground-level cabtree platform and log cabin remain; former 46-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Logs
Height
46 ft (14.0 m)
Elevation
8,327 ft (2,538 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.26082, −115.23848
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-rock-rabbit

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. 1929 BuiltFirst facility: tent camp and tree platform (NHLR; platform remains). Firelookout.com also says the 1929 site had a log cabin, which NHLR dates to 1937.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 Built46-foot steel tower erected (Forest Lookouts; firelookout.com says constructed 1934). NHLR dates the tower to 1937.Sources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1937 BuiltNHLR: Rocky Mountain style log cabin and 46-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cab addedSource: nhlr.org
  4. No record between 1937 and 1977
  5. 1977 RemovedFirelookout.com: 46-foot steel tower gone in 1977. NHLR gives 1981.Source: firelookout.com
  6. 1981 RemovedNHLR: tower removed in 1981; other structures remain. Firelookout.com gives 1977.Source: nhlr.org
  7. No record between 1981 and 1999
  8. 1999 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 1, 1999 as US 310, ID 29; nominated by Gary Weber, Idaho RegistrarSource: nhlr.org
  9. 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.

Rock Rabbit Point sits on Rock Rabbit Mountain in Idaho County, Idaho, inside the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness on the Payette National Forest.1,2,3 The register gives its elevation as 8,327 feet, while firelookout.com gives 8,360 feet.1,2

The register dates the first facility to 1929. It describes a tent camp and a tree platform, and says the platform remains today.1,2,3

The build dates do not agree. The register dates a log cabin and a 46-foot Aermotor steel tower, with a 7-by-7-foot cab, to 1937.1 The Forest Lookouts page and firelookout.com date the tower to 1934, and firelookout.com says the 1929 site already had a log cabin.2,3 We could not settle these dates from the sources we read.

We found no staffing history or notable fires in the sources we read. The Forest Lookouts page lists the 1929 platform and the 1934 tower, and marks the tower as removed, without a year.3

The sources give two different years for the tower's removal. Firelookout.com says it was gone in 1977, while the register says it was removed in 1981.1,2 The register says the other structures remain, and firelookout.com says the tree platform and log cabin are still there.1,2 The register recorded the site on March 1, 1999, with Gary Weber, Idaho Registrar, as nominator. Its registry number is US 310, ID 29.1

The register says the site is administered by the U.S. Forest Service.1 Firelookout.com places it eight miles south of Chamberlain G.S.2 We found no source describing a trail, whether the site is open, or any rental. Because the wilderness setting and the unknown status make the route unclear, check with the Payette National Forest before planning any visit.

  1. Rock Rabbit Fire Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/rock-rabbit-fire-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Rock Rabbit Point Fire Lookout Cabin, Forest Fire Lookout page (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/id/rockrabbit.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Rock Rabbit Point, Forest Lookouts (idaholookouts.weebly.com), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/rock-rabbit-point.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Rock Rabbit Fire Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Rock Rabbit Point in 1977
Rock Rabbit Point in 1977 (1977)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, via firelookout.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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Standing
    • NHLR: Standing
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Standing
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1937
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1929

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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: height, 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. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, 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.