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Fire lookout · Lemhi County, Idaho

Ulysses Mountain Lookout

A 60-ft steel tower built in 1928 in Idaho's Salmon-Challis National Forest; the log cabin burned in 2012 and the tower stands with broken rungs.

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. No current road, gate or rental information in the sources. The site is on Salmon-Challis National Forest land.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
No visitor route is described. The tower has broken ladder rungs and missing platforms, and the writer did not climb it.
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 1968)

Facts

Status
Standing sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower60-ft Aeromotor steel tower with 7x7-ft cab, plus a log cabin for living quartersThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
7,649 ft (2,331 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Salmon-Challis National Forest (North Fork Ranger District cooperator)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lemhi County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.42949, −114.11032
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-ulysses-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.

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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. 1828 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  2. No record between 1828 and 1928
  3. 1928 Built60-ft steel tower with 7x7 cab, plus log cabin living quartersSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. No record between 1928 and 1965
  5. 1965 Last staffedLast regularly staffed season per Idaho Fire Lookouts; Robert Smith named as known staffSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  6. 1968 AbandonedAbandoned per the Idaho Fire Lookouts timeline; Forest Fire Lookout says not used since the 1970sSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1968 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 24, 2011 as US 924, ID 87Source: nhlr.org
  9. 2012 BurnedLog cabin living quarters burned in a 2012 forest fireSource: firelookout.com
  10. 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.

Ulysses Mountain Lookout stands at 7,649 feet on the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Lemhi County, Idaho.1 Its 60-foot steel tower carried a 7-by-7-foot cab, and a log cabin served as living quarters for the lookout.1,2,3 The National Historic Lookout Register gives the build year as 1828 in its data fields, but its own description says 1928.1 The other two sites also say 1928, so the 1828 looks like a typo.1,2,3

The lookout was regularly staffed through 1965, which Idaho Fire Lookouts gives as its last season, and that site names Robert Smith as known staff that year.3 The same site marks the tower as abandoned in 1968.3 Forest Fire Lookout says the tower has sat unused since the 1970s, so the sources disagree on when its working life ended.2,3

The log cabin did not survive.2,3 Photos from 2012 show it still standing, and Forest Fire Lookout says a 2012 forest fire consumed it.2,3 On a later visit, the Idaho writer found the cabin's foundation and burned remnants.3 The steel tower remains, but its ladder rungs are broken and its platforms are gone, and the writer decided not to climb it.3 An electronics site now sits at the top, though its installation date is unknown.3

The register listed the tower on September 24, 2011, as US 924, ID 87.1 A lookout list at firelookout.org shows it as "Tower Standing."4 The sources do not describe current road access, gates or rentals, so public access is unknown.1,2,3 Given the broken rungs, anyone planning a visit should check with the Salmon-Challis National Forest first and should not climb the tower.3

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

Photos

Photo of Ulysses Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Ulysses 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
Ulysses Mtn. L.O.
Ulysses Mtn. L.OPhoto: Zeb Palmer and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Ulysses Mtn. lookout cabin
Ulysses Mtn. lookout cabinPhoto: Zeb Palmer and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Ulysses Mtn. in 2018
Ulysses Mtn. in 2018 (2018)Photo: Zeb Palmer and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Ulysses Mountain Lookout
Ulysses 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.

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 whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Standing
    • NHLR: Standing
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Standing
    • Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com): Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered. idahofirelookouts.com's status is read from a short summary.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1828
    • 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, 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, 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 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, height, 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.