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Fire lookout · Shoshone County, Idaho

Snow Peak Lookout

R-6 cab on a 10-foot concrete base, built 1963 after a 1929 cupola cabin; locked and used by Idaho Fish & Game while the Forest Service rehabs it for rental.

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. Cab is locked and used by Idaho Fish & Game for goat monitoring and communications equipment; the Forest Service says it is not currently available for rent or reservation.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Day hike with trails managed jointly with Idaho Fish & Game; one 2024 hiker estimated about 9 miles round trip. The cab is locked.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6 flat cab on a 10-foot concrete baseThe designs: R-6, Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
6,749 ft (2,057 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, St. Joe National Forest (Idaho Panhandle National Forests); Idaho Fish & Game is a co-user
Land
Federal land
Location
Shoshone County, Idaho
Coordinates
47.04530, −115.63295
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-snow-peak-2

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1929 BuiltCupola cabin; the site was first developed with this structureSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1929 and 1950
  3. 1950 StaffedJohn M. Johnson listed as known staff, citing the Former Forest Fire Lookout RegistrySource: idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1960 StaffedWilliam Lassiter listed for 1960 on both firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts (the latter citing the Kellogg Evening News)Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. 1963 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  6. 1963 Replaced by a new structureR-6 flat cab on a 10-foot concrete base; the register gives 1963 as the build yearSources: firelookout.com, nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  7. 1968 StaffedKjell Peterson listed as known staff on Idaho Fire LookoutsSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  8. No record between 1968 and 2020
  9. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 24, 2020 as US 1404, ID 111Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2024 EventLocked up in August 2024; Idaho Fish & Game using it for goat monitoring and communications equipment; St. Joe National Forest rehabbing it for a future rental programSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  11. 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.

Snow Peak Lookout stands in Shoshone County, Idaho, on one of the most distinct peaks in St. Joe country.1,2 The register lists its elevation at 6,749 feet, while Idaho Fire Lookouts gives 6,760 feet.3,4

The site was first developed in 1929 with a cupola cabin.1,4 The lookout that stands there now is newer. It has an R-6 flat cab on a 10-foot concrete base, and it dates to 1963.1,3,4 The register gives 1963 as the build year.3 The other two pages also mention the 1929 cabin, so the dates describe two stages of one site rather than conflicting accounts of a single building.1,4

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists John M. Johnson as known staff in 1950, citing a former lookout registry, and Kjell Peterson for 1968.4 Both pages name William Lassiter for 1960.1,4 The firelookout.com page also notes a patrol lookout one mile west, atop Spotted Louis Peak.1

Idaho Fish & Game uses the cab to watch a local mountain goat herd and to house communications equipment.1,4 When Idaho Fire Lookouts hiked up in August 2024, they found the lookout locked up and the St. Joe National Forest refurbishing it for a future rental program.4

The Forest Service says the lookout cannot currently be rented or reserved.2 It also calls the trip a day hike, with the trails managed jointly with Fish and Game.2 One 2024 hiker estimated the round trip at about 9 miles.4

  1. Snow Peak Fire Lookout Tower, Forest Fire Lookout (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/id/snowpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Snow Peak Lookout, Idaho Panhandle National Forests, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/idahopanhandle/recreation/snow-peak-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Snow Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/snow-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Snow Peak Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/snow-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Snow Peak Lookout
Photo: Tom Taylor, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Snow Peak Lookout
Photo: Gary Weber, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Snow Peak Herd display
Snow Peak Herd displayPhoto: Gary Weber, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Snow Peak Lookout
Photo: Gary Weber, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Snow Peak L.O.
Snow Peak L.OPhoto: Gary Weber, the Fire Lookout Museum, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Snow Peak L.O.
Snow Peak L.OPhoto: Gary Weber, the Fire Lookout Museum, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Snow Peak in 2012
Snow Peak in 2012 (2012)Photo: Gary Weber, the Fire Lookout Museum, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Snow Peak Lookout
Snow Peak 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: 1963
    • 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, register numbers, agency, 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, height, ownership, 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, 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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