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Fire lookout · Bonner County, Idaho

Sundance Lookout

Also known as Sundance Mountain

Bonner County lookout first used as a 1928 camp; its 1935 L-4 cab survived the 1967 Sundance fire and was replaced in 1981 by an R-6 cab, now volunteer-staffed.

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. Volunteer-staffed lookout on Idaho Department of Lands land near Priest Lake. Idaho Fire Lookouts tags it drive-up. No source says whether visitors may enter the cab.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts tags it Drive-Up. Firelookout.com places it 4 miles ENE of Coolin.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6The designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
6,298 ft (1,920 m)
Agency
Idaho Department of Lands
Land
Unknown
Location
Bonner County, Idaho
Coordinates
48.49083, −116.75139
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-sundance

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 4.1 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. 1928 EventTent camp with an alidade on the rock pile, and a camp 1/4 mile west, per NHLR, firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1935 BuiltL-4 hip-roofed cab on a 20-foot tower. The register calls it a log tower; firelookout.com calls it a pole tower.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  3. No record between 1935 and 1967
  4. 1967 FireSundance fire. Per the register, the 1935 lookout survived its firestorm.Source: nhlr.org
  5. 1979 StaffedNancy Glazier listed as known staff, citing the Bonner County Daily Bee.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  6. 1981 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  7. 1981 Replaced by a new structureIdaho Department of Lands replaced the 1935 cab with an R-6 flattop cab with catwalk on a 20-foot timber tower. Firelookout.com gives the tower as 15 feet.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  8. No record between 1981 and 2008
  9. 2008 RestoredA chapter member led a restoration program at this Idaho Department of Lands lookout.Source: firelookout.org
  10. 2008 StaffedA volunteer staffing program was run at the lookout alongside the restoration work.Source: firelookout.org
  11. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 24, 2009 (US 801, ID 79).Source: nhlr.org
  12. 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.

Sundance Mountain, four miles east-northeast of Coolin in Bonner County, Idaho, has been a lookout site since 1928.1 The first setup was a tent camp with an alidade on the rock pile, and Idaho Fire Lookouts places a camp 1/4 mile to the west.2,3 Seven years later an L-4 hip-roofed cab went up on a 20-foot tower in 1935.2,1 The register calls that tower a log tower, while firelookout.com calls it a pole tower.2,1

The register says the 1935 cab survived the firestorm of the Sundance fire in 1967. In 1981 the Idaho Department of Lands put up an R-6 flattop cab with a catwalk in its place.2 The sources disagree on the new tower's height. The register gives 20 feet, and firelookout.com gives 15.2,1

The register says the lookout is now staffed through a volunteer program.2 The Forest Fire Lookout Association says it is staffed annually by volunteers, and Idaho Fire Lookouts says volunteers staff it during fire season.4,3 Firelookout.com says it is staffed in the summer.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts names known staff going back to the 1930s, including Mr. Frank Cummins, Mr. Ryder Chronic in 1932, and Nancy Glazier in 1979.3

The 1935 cab was replaced in 1981, and all four sites date the present tower to that year.2,1,3,4

Idaho Fire Lookouts tags the lookout as Drive-Up.3 The Idaho Department of Lands administers it.2,4 The sources do not say whether visitors may enter the cab, and none of them mentions a rental.2,1,3,4 The register added the lookout on April 24, 2009.2

  1. Sundance Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/sundance.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Sundance Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/sundance-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Sundance Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/northern-idaho/sundance-mountain-lookout-2/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Sundance, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id/sundance/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Sundance Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout site 44 years after Sundance Fire, September 2011
Lookout site 44 years after Sundance Fire, September 2011 (2011)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout site 44 years after Sundance Fire, September 2011
Lookout site 44 years after Sundance Fire, September 2011 (2011)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout site 44 years after Sundance Fire, September 2011
Lookout site 44 years after Sundance Fire, September 2011 (2011)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout site 44 years after Sundance Fire, September 2011
Lookout site 44 years after Sundance Fire, September 2011 (2011)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sundance at sunrise
Sundance at sunrisePhoto: Jo Haverfield, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sundance Mtn. in 1931
Sundance Mtn. in 1931 (1931)Photo: Gary Weber and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Sundance Mtn. in 1979
Sundance Mtn. in 1979 (1979)Photo: Gary Weber and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Sundance Mtn. L.O.
Sundance Mtn. L.OPhoto: Gary Weber and Rex Kamstra, 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 the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1981
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1928

    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, 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, height, 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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