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Fire lookout · Boise County, Idaho

Sunset Mountain Lookout

Boise NF lookout: a 1930 R-5 cab on a 10-foot base, with an R-6 cab set on that base in 1958; standing and drive-up, with staffing disputed.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Dirt road from Highway 21 at Mores Creek Summit; no fees; 4WD in summer and early fall; snowshoe access in winter. Staffing is reported inconsistently in undated sources.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Dirt road from Mores Creek Summit, about 13 miles north of Idaho City; visitors can walk up to the concrete base and around the catwalk.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6The design: R-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1930
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
7,869 ft (2,399 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Boise County, Idaho
Coordinates
43.89864, −115.64686
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-sunset-mountain-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. 1930 BuiltRegion 5 cab on a 10-foot concrete base.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1940 EventPer a 1994 SITPA history, the association had stopped using a Sunset Mtn. lookout by 1940. The history gives no county, so the link to this tower is uncertain.Source: objects.lib.uidaho.edu
  3. 1945 FireLightning struck a tree 200 feet from the lookout; the lookout attendant put out the burning tree with a shovel. The item is dated January 28, 1945; the strike date is not given.Source: daytripnorthwest.com
  4. 1958 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  5. 1958 Replaced by a new structureR-6 cab with catwalk built on the same 10-foot base.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, daytripnorthwest.com
  6. No record between 1958 and 2011
  7. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, October 16, 2011.Source: nhlr.org
  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.

Sunset Mountain Lookout sits on a 7,869-foot summit in the Boise National Forest, in Boise County.1 The first cab here was an R-5 design, set on a 10-foot concrete base in 1930.1,2 In 1958 an R-6 cab with a catwalk went up on that same base, and that is the structure the sources describe today.1,2

A January 28, 1945 Idaho Statesman item, quoted by Daytrip Northwest, tells of Nellie Arabaugh of Pioneerville, who was working the lookout when lightning struck a tree 200 feet away. She brought the burning tree under control with a shovel.3 The quoted passage gives the newspaper date but not the date of the strike.3

Sources disagree about whether anyone staffs the lookout now. Firelookout.com and Daytrip Northwest both say it is staffed every summer, and Idaho Fire Lookouts lists it as drive-up staffed.2,3,4 The Trails Off Road guide calls it an unmanned lookout.5 None of these pages says when it was checked, so the current season is unconfirmed.

A 1994 history of the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association says the association constructed and operated seven lookouts, including one on a Sunset Mtn., and that by 1940 it had stopped using the Sunset Mtn. and Peck Mtn. lookouts.6 That history does not say which Sunset Mountain it means, so it is unclear whether it describes this tower.6

The National Historic Lookout Register added the tower on October 16, 2011, and the Forest Fire Lookout Association lists it as standing.1,7

The road to the lookout leaves Highway 21 at Mores Creek Summit, about 13 miles north of Idaho City.3 Daytrip Northwest reports no fees and says the dirt road suits 4WD vehicles in summer and early fall, with snowshoe access in winter.3 Trails Off Road says people may go up to the 10-foot concrete base and walk around the catwalk.5

  1. Sunset Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/sunset-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Sunset Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/sunsetmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Sunset Mountain Lookout, Daytrip Northwest, https://www.daytripnorthwest.com/post/sunset-mountain-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Sunset Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/sunset-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Sunset Mountain Lookout, Trails Off Road, https://www.trailsoffroad.com/US/idaho/trails/4630-sunset-mountain-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. A Brief History of the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association 1904-1994, University of Idaho Library, https://objects.lib.uidaho.edu/cccidaho/cccidaho1224.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  7. Idaho Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Sunset Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Sunset 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
Sunset Mtn. in 2000
Sunset Mtn. in 2000 (2000)Photo: Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Sunset Mountain Lookout
Sunset Mountain 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, height, staffing, 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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