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Fire lookout · Custer County, Idaho

Sleeping Deer Mountain Lookout

Also known as Sleeping Deer

Challis NF lookout: L-4 cab built 1935 in the Frank Church wilderness; last staffed 1997, now on emergency status and in poor shape; reached on foot.

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. On emergency status, not staffed since 1997, and described as in poor shape. No source describes public entry into the cabin; ask the Salmon-Challis National Forest before going.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Vehicle access on the Sleeping Deer Road (FS-086, 22 miles from the saddle) to within 2 miles of the summit. A signed trail from the road end climbs just over a mile. The Forest Service lists a 0.5-mile trail from the Cabin Creek and Melville Ridge trails. Cellphone service is usually unavailable.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabL-4The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
Unknown
Elevation
9,772 ft (2,979 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Salmon-Challis National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Custer County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.76723, −114.69133
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-sleeping-deer-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. 1935 BuiltL-4 cab on the ground, the only structure on the summit per firelookout.com; NHLR calls it a hip-roof L-4 groundhouse with a catwalk.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1935 and 1984
  3. 1984 StaffedEd Bachel listed as known staff for 1984 to 1985, per Idaho Fire Lookouts.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1997 Last staffedLast staffed in 1997; the cab is now on emergency status.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. 2004 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered February 12, 2004 as US 547, ID 42.Source: nhlr.org
  6. 2014 RestoredLight repair: a temporary patch was applied to the weathered door.Source: firelookout.org
  7. 2015 EventClimbing guide: the lookout was in poor shape and was not manned in 2015.Source: idahoaclimbingguide.com
  8. 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 Sleeping Deer Mountain lookout is a ground-mounted L-4 cab built in 1935, inside the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.1,2 Firelookout.com says no other structure was ever raised on the summit.2 The National Historic Lookout Register describes a hip-roof L-4 groundhouse with a catwalk.1

A Forest Service road, which the climbing guide says the agency built before the area became wilderness, gets a vehicle within two miles of the summit.3

The lookout was last staffed in 1997.1,2,4 Idaho Fire Lookouts lists Ed Bachel as known staff for 1984–1985.4 The register says the cab is now on emergency status.1 The climbing guide reports the lookout in poor shape and unstaffed in 2015.3 The register added the site on February 12, 2004.1

Idaho Fire Lookouts tags the site as a hike-in with emergency status.4 The climbing guide says the trail starts at the end of the road and that a signed trail climbs to the summit in just over a mile.3 A separate Forest Service page lists a 0.5-mile trail from the Cabin Creek and Melville Ridge trails to the lookout. It notes that the trail is within the wilderness and that cellphones usually have no service.5 The sources do not describe public entry into the cabin, and the guide describes it as in poor shape, so ask the Salmon-Challis National Forest about conditions before you go.3,5

The sources do not agree on elevation or county. The register gives 9,772 feet (2,979 m) and Custer County, while firelookout.com gives 9,881 feet and Lemhi County.1,2 Idaho Fire Lookouts also uses 9,881 feet.4

  1. Sleeping Deer Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/sleeping-deer-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Sleeping Deer Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/sleepingdeer.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Sleeping Deer Mountain, IDAHO: A Climbing Guide, https://www.idahoaclimbingguide.com/bookupdates/sleeping-deer-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Sleeping Deer Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/sleeping-deer-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Sleeping Deer Lookout Trail #4212, Salmon-Challis National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/salmon-challis/recreation/trails/sleeping-deer-lookout-trail-4212 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Sleeping Deer Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
August 2012
August 2012 (2012)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Interior, August 2012
Interior, August 2012 (2012)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Sleeping Deer Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sleeping Deer L.O.
Sleeping Deer L.OPhoto: Jim Reid and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Sleeping Deer in 2012
Sleeping Deer in 2012 (2012)Photo: Jim Reid and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Sleeping Deer i 2012
Sleeping Deer i 2012 (2012)Photo: Jim Reid and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Sleeping Deer Lookout
Sleeping Deer 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 Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  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

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