Fire lookout · Lemhi County, Idaho
Stein Mountain Lookout
Lemhi County R-6 cab built in 1958 to replace a 1917 log cabin; the register lists it, and sources report summer staffing.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
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. Summer-staffed lookout on Salmon-Challis National Forest. Sources do not say whether visitors may enter the cab.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- Idaho Fire Lookouts tags it Drive-Up. The Forest Service describes a 2.6-mile Stein Mountain trail from Trail #6134 to the lookout. The sources describe the approach differently.
- Staffing
- Staffed during fire season
Facts
- Status
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1917 sources disagree
- Height
- 10 ft (3.0 m)
- Elevation
- 8,555 ft (2,608 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Lemhi County, Idaho
- Coordinates
- 45.45908, −113.88064
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-id-stein-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
- 1917 BuiltLog cabin lookout on the site, per the register and firelookout.com.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
- 1930 Replaced by a new structureL-4 cab on a log crib replaced the cabin, per firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts. The sources give only the decade (1930s), so 1930 marks its start.Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- No record between 1930 and 1958
- 1958 BuiltCurrent R-6 cab and carport. The register says it replaced the 1917 cabin and does not mention the 1930s cab.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- No record between 1958 and 2001
- 2001 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Gene Mullikin listed as known staff for 2001-2002.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
- 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 25, 2011 (US 932, ID 91).Source: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The site had a log-cabin lookout from 1917, and the lookout standing there now was built in 1958 in Lemhi County, Idaho.1,2 The register describes the present structure as a 15-by-15-foot R-6 cab with a catwalk and a carport, and says it replaced the 1917 cabin.1 Firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts both add a step in between: an L-4 cab on a log crib, which they date to the 1930s.2,3 The register does not mention that 1930s cab.1 Firelookout.com also says the 1958 R-6 cab sits on a 10-foot concrete base.2
Firelookout.com says the present cab is staffed in the summer, but gives no year for that.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts lists Mr. and Mrs. Gene Mullikin as known staff for 2001 and 2002, and names no one else.3
None of the three sites describes a fire at the lookout.1,2,3 All three treat the 1958 cab as the one on the mountain today.1,2,3 The register recorded the lookout on September 25, 2011.1
Idaho Fire Lookouts tags the lookout as Drive-Up.3 The Forest Service describes a 2.6-mile Stein Mountain trail that begins at Trail #6134 and ends at the lookout, so the sources describe the approach differently.4 The sources do not say whether visitors can enter the cab.1,2,3 The register's rental page says rentable towers are marked on its listing pages, and the detail page for Stein Mountain does not mention rental.5,1
- Stein Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/stein-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Stein Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/steinmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Stein Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/stein-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Stein Mountain Trail, Salmon-Challis National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/salmon-challis/recreation/trails/stein-mountain-trail (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Rentals, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/rentals/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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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: 1958
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1917
Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.
Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) Gave us: what it is built of, design, 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
- Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- 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
- NHLR register entry US 932 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- NHLR register entry (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Stein Mountain Trail (Salmon-Challis National Forest, U.S. Forest Service) (opens another site)
- Rentals (National Historic Lookout Register) (opens another site)
- FFLA Idaho lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Stein Mtn. on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Stein Mountain Lookout on idahofirelookouts.com (opens another site)
- Stein Mountain on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.