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Fire lookout · Teton County, Montana

Beartop Lookout

Forest Service L-4 cab on a peak about 32 miles west of Choteau, built 1932-33 after a summit camp; the register calls it usually staffed.

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. Reached on foot in the Bob Marshall Wilderness; no public visiting or rental listing found for the cab

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
A hiking listing carries the name Beartop Trail #129 for a route in the Bob Marshall Wilderness
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabForest Service L-4 cab; a 1932 newspaper describes the new houses as 14 feet square with glass upper wallsThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,991 ft (2,436 m)
Agency
US Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Teton County, Montana
Coordinates
47.79085, −112.85664
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-beartop

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. 1928 EventCamp on the summit, per NHLRSource: nhlr.org
  2. 1931 First staffedEarliest staffing found in the Choteau Acantha clippingsSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1932 EventNew lookout house under construction from late September; cost about $650 from an emergency relief fundSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1933 BuiltNHLR gives 1933 for the L-4 cab at $650Source: nhlr.org
  5. 1939 StaffedHugh Munyan named as Beartop lookoutSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1939 and 1966
  7. 1966 StaffedDennis Seaton named as Beartop Mountain lookoutSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1966 and 2009
  9. 2009 AlteredNew roof installed (June 2009)Source: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  10. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 12, 2022 as US 1542, MT 105Source: nhlr.org
  11. 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.

Beartop Lookout sits on a peak in the Lewis and Clark National Forest, about 32 miles west of Choteau in Teton County, Montana.1 Newspapers of the 1930s spelled the name several ways, including Bear Top and Bare Top, so older records can be hard to match.2

The National Historic Lookout Register says the site began as a camp in 1928, and it dates the current L-4 cab to 1933, when it cost $650.3 Local clippings suggest a slightly different timeline. A new lookout house was being built on the peak in late September 1932, and a November 1932 item put its cost at about $650, paid from an emergency relief fund.2 A 1931 item says one smoke chaser occupied the Bear Top lookout that summer, so a structure may have stood there before the new house.2

Between 1935 and 1940, newspapers named several summer lookouts for the peak, including Hugh Munyan in 1939.2 The register calls the cab usually staffed and says it is the sole original L-4 cab in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.3

A 1966 notice names Dennis Seaton as the Beartop Mountain lookout.2 The cab got a new roof in June 2009.2 The register recorded it on April 12, 2022, as US 1542, MT 105.3

The Forest Service's cabin page describes rentals booked through Recreation.gov, but it does not name Beartop, and I found no listing that says whether the cab can be visited.4 A hiking listing carries the name Beartop Trail #129 for a route in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.5 Because the register describes the cab as usually staffed, check with the Forest Service before you plan a trip.

  1. Beartop Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/beartop.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Beartop - Forest Lookouts (Montana), montanalookouts.weebly.com, https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/beartop.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Beartop Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/beartop-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Camping and Cabins, USDA Forest Service Northern Region, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/recreation/camping-cabins (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Beartop Trail #129, Hiking Project, https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7080685/beartop-trail-129 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Beartop Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Beartop Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Beartop L.O.
Beartop L.OPhoto: Bill Fordyce, via firelookout.com · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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: 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · 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

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