Fire lookout · Valley County, Idaho
Williams Peak Lookout
L-4 cab on the Payette National Forest, built 1932 and still used for summer fire detection; registered with the NHLR in 2020.
- Standing
- Restricted access
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Restricted access
Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. An active fire lookout. The Forest Service asks visitors to be respectful of the lookout and its space. No source read says whether visitors may enter the cab.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- No, you have to hike
- Trail
- Hike-in. Trail #073 is 7.2 miles long and starts at the Williams Peak Trailhead, reached by about 35 miles of Lick Creek Road from McCall, then about two miles on the East Fork Road. The Forest Service calls Lick Creek Road rough and narrow.
- Staffing
- Staffed during fire season
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Ground-level cabL-4The design: L-4
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1932
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 6,842 ft (2,085 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Valley County, Idaho
- Coordinates
- 45.01862, −115.66291
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-id-williams-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.
Downloads about 3.9 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
- 1932 BuiltL-4 cab built on a ridge northwest of the summit. The NHLR calls it an R1/L-4 ground cabin.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
- No record between 1932 and 2006
- 2006 EventHelicopter 5EV crashed on August 13, 2006, while on a mission on the East Fork South Fork of the Salmon River. Idaho Fire Lookouts, relaying a Payette National Forest Facebook post, says four people died, including the lookout Lillian Patten.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
- 2006 StaffedLillian Patten listed as known staff for 2006.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
- 2017 StaffedDaniel Moak listed as known staff for 2017 through 2025 by Idaho Fire Lookouts.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
- 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 4, 2020. Idaho Fire Lookouts gives the same year for the addition to the Register.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
- 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.
Williams Peak Lookout is an L-4 cab on the Payette National Forest in Valley County, Idaho.1,2 The Forest Service gives its elevation as 6,826 feet, while the Register gives 6,842 feet.3,1
The cab was built in 1932 on a ridge northwest of the summit.2,4 The Register calls it an R1/L-4 ground cabin.1
The Register says the lookout is generally staffed each fire season.1 The Forest Service says the lookout still serves fire detection during the summer.3 Idaho Fire Lookouts lists known staff from 2006 to 2025, with Daniel Moak listed for 2017 through 2025.4
The page also records a fatal helicopter crash.4 On August 13, 2006, a helicopter crashed while on a mission on the East Fork South Fork of the Salmon River.4 Idaho Fire Lookouts, relaying a Payette National Forest Facebook post, says four people died, including the lookout Lillian Patten.4
No source describes the lookout as abandoned, moved or burned.1,2,4,3 The Register lists it as registered on October 4, 2020.1,4
The Forest Service calls it an active fire lookout and asks visitors to be respectful of the lookout.5 Trail #073 is 7.2 miles long and starts at the Williams Peak Trailhead.5 To get there, drive Lick Creek Road from McCall for about 35 miles, then continue about two miles on the East Fork Road.3 The Forest Service calls Lick Creek Road rough and narrow.3 Idaho Fire Lookouts describes it as a hike-in staffed lookout.4 None of the pages read mentions a rental, and none says whether visitors may enter the cab.4
- Williams Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/williams-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Williams Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/williamspeak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Williams Peak Trailhead, Payette National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/payette/recreation/williams-peak-trailhead (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Williams Peak Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/williams-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Williams Peak Trail #073, Payette National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/payette/recreation/trails/williams-peak-trail-073 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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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, 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 1458 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Williams Peak Trailhead (Payette National Forest, U.S. Forest Service) (opens another site)
- Williams Peak Trail #073 (Payette National Forest, U.S. Forest Service) (opens another site)
- FFLA Idaho lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Williams Peak on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Williams Peak Lookout on idahofirelookouts.com (opens another site)
- Williams Peak 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.