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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Willow Ridge Lookout

A 1930 pre-cut L-4 cabin on the ground at Willow Ridge in the Clearwater National Forest; manned from 1929 until a 1934 fire burned it, and never manned again.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The cabin burned in the 1934 fire.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
In 1981 Louis Hartig placed the point at the end of Trail #237, reached by way of Fish Creek.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cabin on log sills flat on the ground, no towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1930
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Clearwater National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.39583, −115.40080 sources disagree
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-willow-ridge

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

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

  1. 1929 First staffedRanger Ralph Hand set a tent camp and one man on the ridgeSources: idaholookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1930 BuiltPre-cut L-4 cabin set on log sills flat on the ground, no towerSources: firelookout.com, fs.usda.gov, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1934 BurnedCabin reduced to ashes in a 1934 fireSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, fs.usda.gov
  4. 1934 DestroyedSource: Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com)
  5. 1934 Last staffedManned each season until 1934Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Willow Ridge Lookout stood on a ridge in Idaho County, in the Clearwater National Forest, about 5 miles northwest of the Lochsa Ranger Station.1,2,3

It started as a tent camp in 1929. Ranger Ralph Hand set up the camp and put one man on the ridge.3,1 In 1930 a pre-cut L-4 cabin was packed in and put together by Earnest Hartman and Harry Chenoweth. It rested on log sills set directly on the ground, with no tower.3,1,2

By 1930 Ranger Fred Shaner was running the district and oversaw the work.3 The site was staffed every season until 1934.3

In 1934 a fire burned the cabin.1,4,2,3 The site was never staffed again, mainly because there was little to protect.3

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the site as a hike-in.4 Louis Hartig's 1981 account places the point at the end of Trail #237, reached by way of Fish Creek.3 No source describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, and none says whether the way in is open to visitors.1,4,2,3

  1. Willow Ridge Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/willowridge.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Clearwater National Forest Lookouts, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259185 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Idaho County (M-W) - Forest Lookouts, idaholookouts.weebly.com, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/idaho-county-m-w.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Willow Ridge Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/willow-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

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 location by 1.9 km (1.2 mi).

    • FFLA: 46.39583, −115.40080
    • Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com): 46.37878, −115.39767

    The map uses the position from FFLA.

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: 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
  3. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: dates, 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.