FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Valley County, Idaho

Tripod Peak Lookout

Valley County lookout first used in 1921, with a 1977 R-6 flat cab; standing, with the concrete base dated 1950 or 1956 and current staffing unconfirmed.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Listed as hike-in by Idaho Fire Lookouts. No closure or rental notice was found in the pages read. Current staffing is unconfirmed; the association's undated page does not name Tripod.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Hike-in per Idaho Fire Lookouts; no route description was read.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of undated)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6The designs: R-6, L-4, Plan 4-A
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1921
Height
6 ft (1.8 m)
Elevation
8,082 ft (2,463 m)
Agency
Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association
Land
Federal land
Location
Valley County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.38411, −116.12832
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-tripod-peak

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. 1921 BuiltFirst lookout: a California Region 5 Plan 4A cabin on a six-foot open timber tower (NHLR). Firelookout.com describes a six-foot wooden tower topped by a live-in cab.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1934 Replaced by a new structureR1/L-4 cabin replaced the first cab. Idaho Fire Lookouts dates the L-4 cab to 1934; firelookout.com says the L-4 tower came in the 1930s.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1950
  4. 1950 AlteredConcrete base added (NHLR and Idaho Fire Lookouts). Firelookout.com dates the concrete base to 1956.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1950 and 1977
  6. 1977 BuiltCurrent two-story Region 6 flat cab.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1977 and 2020
  8. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, October 3, 2020.Source: nhlr.org
  9. 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.

Tripod Peak Lookout stands on an 8,082-foot summit about 10 miles south-southwest of Cascade, in Valley County, Idaho.1,2 The peak first hosted a lookout in 1921, when the National Historic Lookout Register says a California Region 5 Plan 4A cabin was set on a six-foot open timber tower.1 Firelookout.com describes that first lookout as a six-foot wooden tower with a live-in cab on top.2

The first cab was later replaced by an R1/L-4 cabin on a short timber tower. Idaho Fire Lookouts dates that change to 1934, and firelookout.com places it in the 1930s.1,2,3 A concrete base came next. The register and Idaho Fire Lookouts date it to 1950, while firelookout.com says 1956.1,3,2 The current two-story R-6 flat cab was built in 1977.1,2

The register says the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association staffs it during fire season, and firelookout.com says the same association has staffed it.1,2 Idaho Fire Lookouts labels it hike-in staffed.3 An undated employment page from that association, however, lists two fire lookouts on Brundage and Lookout mountains among its responsibilities, and the page does not name Tripod.4 The current season is therefore unconfirmed.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as standing.5 The National Historic Lookout Register added it on October 3, 2020.1

  1. Tripod Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/tripod-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Tripod Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/tripodpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Tripod Peak Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/tripod-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. SITPA Employment, Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association, http://www.sitpa.org/employment.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Idaho Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Tripod Peak Lookout - 2015
Tripod Peak Lookout - 2015 (2015)Photo: Dave Pahlas, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Region 5 Plan 4A Cabin
Region 5 Plan 4A CabinPhoto: US Forest Service, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tripod Peak in 1921
Tripod Peak in 1921 (1921)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, the Fire Lookout Museum and Darin Roberts, via firelookout.com · source
Tripod Peak in 1970
Tripod Peak in 1970 (1970)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, the Fire Lookout Museum and Darin Roberts, via firelookout.com · source
Tripod Peak L.O.
Tripod Peak L.OPhoto: the U.S. Forest Service, the Fire Lookout Museum and Darin Roberts, via firelookout.com · source
Tripod Peak Lookout
Tripod Peak 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, 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: 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
  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, staffing, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.