FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Boise County, Idaho

Scott Mountain Lookout

1934 L-4 cab on an 8,215-ft Boise NF summit, replacing a 1920 log cabin; drive-up, seasonally staffed, NHLR-registered 2011.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Drive-up summit reached by forest road and described as a popular drive-to lookout. Access is limited to summer and possibly early fall.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Deadwood Reservoir Road, then a little over 4 miles on Forest Road 555; 4WD or AWD recommended.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabL-4The design: L-4
Built of
Logs
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
8,215 ft (2,504 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Boise County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.18137, −115.78874
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-scott-mountain

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 3.6 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. 1920 BuiltFirst structure on the summit: a 12x12-foot log cabin.Sources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1922 StaffedKnown-staff list names Gerald Pickford; the list does not name the structure.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  3. 1934 BuiltL-4 cab on a stone foundation/catwalk per NHLR; NHLR says it replaced the 1920 cabin.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  4. No record between 1934 and 1959
  5. 1959 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey station description: wooden 20x20 structure with concrete foundation, garage and outbuildings.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1959 and 2003
  7. 2003 StaffedKnown-staff list names Teresa Beall.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  8. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered with the National Historic Lookout Register on September 24, 2011.Source: 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.

Scott Mountain Lookout stands 8,215 feet up on a granite peak in the Boise National Forest, about 11 miles northwest of Lowman.1,2 The first structure on the summit was a 12-by-12-foot log cabin, erected in 1920.3,4 In 1934 an L-4 cab took its place, set on an unusual stone foundation that also serves as a catwalk.4,3

A 1959 Coast and Geodetic Survey description, reproduced on one Idaho history site, instead describes a wooden structure 20 by 20 feet, with a concrete foundation, a garage and outbuildings.3 The two accounts disagree about the foundation: the registry says stone, and the survey says concrete.4,3

Idaho Fire Lookouts' known-staff list names Gerald Pickford under 1922 and Teresa Beall under 2003, but it does not say which structure either one served.5 The 1922 entry predates the 1934 cab.5,4 The National Historic Lookout Register recorded the tower on September 24, 2011.4

Daytrip Northwest, in an undated post, says the lookout is still manned during fire season.1 Firelookout.com says summer staffing is possible.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site "Drive-Up Staffed."5

Getting there is a drive. From Highway 17, Deadwood Reservoir Road runs about 10 miles from the pavement to a junction, and then it is a little over 4 miles to the summit on Forest Road 555.1 Daytrip Northwest recommends a 4WD or AWD vehicle, and says the usable window is summer, possibly reaching early fall.1 Plan a summer trip and check road conditions before you go.

  1. Scott Mountain Lookout, Daytrip Northwest, https://www.daytripnorthwest.com/post/scott-mountain-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Scott Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, Forest Fire Lookout (Rex Kamstra), https://www.firelookout.com/id/scottmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Scott Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Idaho), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/scott-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Scott Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/scott-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Scott Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/scott-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Scott Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Scott Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout interior
Lookout interiorPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Scott Mtn. L.O.
Scott Mtn. L.OPhoto: the Dave Bula collection and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Scott Mtn. in 2010
Scott Mtn. in 2010 (2010)Photo: the Dave Bula collection and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Scott Mtn. in 2010
Scott Mtn. in 2010 (2010)Photo: the Dave Bula collection and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Scott Mountain Lookout
Scott Mountain LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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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 the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1934
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1920

    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, 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: staffing, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: access, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, 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
  7. 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.