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Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Montana

Big Creek Baldy Lookout

A 1966 timber tower on the Kootenai National Forest, successor to a 1934 tower and a 1920s cabin, retired from fire duty in the 1980s and now a popular rental.

Visit & stay

You can rent this lookout for overnight stays through recreation.gov.

Season
mid-June through late September
Getting there
High clearance vehicles are recommended.

Rules

  • Pack out all trash

Overview Big Creek Baldy Lookout sits atop its namesake mountain at an elevation of 5,780 feet in the Kootenai National Forest. The lookout has been used as an observation point for spotting forest fires for over 60 years. The lookout is typically open from mid-June through late September. High clearance vehicles are recommended. This mountain hideaway offers some amenities, but guests should plan to pack in some of their own supplies. Cell service is available at the lookout. Recreation Hikers can find places to explore around the lookout, and the surrounding Libby Area offers more than 400 miles of summer use trails. The lookout offers an ideal vantage point for star gazing on clear nights. Facilities The lookout stands 52 feet tall and has a 225 square foot cabin, which is encircled by a catwalk. It sleeps four and comes furnished with one double bed and one twin bed, both with mattresses. Other amenities include propane lights, a two-burner cooktop, table and chairs, heater, fire extinguisher, cleaning supplies and some cooking utensils. Propane is provided. An outhouse with vault toilet is located near the tower. A campfire ring is located outside, but firewood is not provided. Water and electricity are not available. Guests must bring enough for drinking, cooking and washing. Items such as cookware, bedding, lanterns or flashlights, matches, extra toilet paper, first aid supplies, trash bags, dish soap, towels and an ice chest are not available. Guests are expected to pack out their trash and clean the cabin before leaving. Natural Features The lookout is located in the Purcell Range of the Rocky Mountains and offers panoramic views of densely forested peaks. Lake Koocanusa and the Yaak River valley are prominent features of the landscape. Kootenai National Forest supports populations of deer, elk, moose, grizzly and black bears, wolves and mountain lions (bear safety). A variety of smaller mammals and birds can also be found.

Book on recreation.gov

Rental details from recreation.gov, checked 12 Oct 2026. Rules, fees and seasons change, so confirm on the booking page before you go. Data source: ridb.recreation.gov

Access

Open to the public. Overnight rental by reservation on recreation.gov; two trails and cairned bald sections lead to the tower; high-clearance vehicle recommended for the drive. No on-site water (nearest source, Pipe Creek, is about 6 miles downhill).

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Two trails descend from the lookout through forest and cairn-marked bald terrain; high-clearance vehicle recommended for road access.
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 1980s)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 flattop cab, 15x15 ft, on a 41-ft timber towerThe design: R-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1928
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
5,732 ft (1,747 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Kootenai National Forest, Libby Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lincoln County, Montana
Coordinates
48.63486, −115.54548
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 12 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-big-creek-baldy

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 4.3 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. 1928 BuiltFirst structure, a log cabin. firelookout.com gives 1928; NHLR gives 1929.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1934 Built30-ft wooden tower with 7x7-ft cab added. The Western News (2016) credits the construction, and the earlier cabin, to Stef Ludvikson; NHLR and firelookout.com do not name a builder.Source: thewesternnews.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1966
  4. 1966 Replaced by a new structureCurrent 41-ft timber tower with 15x15-ft R-6 flattop cab replaced the 1934 tower. The Western News gives 1967.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, thewesternnews.com
  5. 1980 Last staffedStaffed fire detection ended by the 1980s as aerial and other detection methods took over; exact year not given.Source: nationalforests.org
  6. 1984 Opened as a rentalEntered the Forest Service rental program.Source: thewesternnews.com
  7. No record between 1984 and 2000
  8. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAccepted onto the National Historic Lookout Register, May 12, 2000 (US 341, MT 23).Source: nhlr.org
  9. No record between 2000 and 2020
  10. 2020 Condition assessmentOne of four Libby District assessments that set the 2021 priorities.Sources: nwmt-ffla.org, nwmt-ffla.org
  11. 2022 RestoredNew rubber-membrane roof installed by a specialist crew with an NMLA board member; lightning protection made functional.Sources: nwmt-ffla.org, nwmt-ffla.org
  12. 2023 AlteredA heater was installed with the Forest Service for the rental; roof and hatch fine-tuned.Sources: nwmt-ffla.org, nwmt-ffla.org
  13. 2025 RestoredLandings secured with new handrails, wire mesh on the catwalk and a new catwalk railing.Source: nwmt-ffla.org
  14. 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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Big Creek Baldy Lookout

Big Creek Baldy sits in the Purcell Mountains, part of the Kootenai National Forest, about sixteen miles north of Libby, Montana.1,2 The first structure on the peak was a simple log cabin, raised in 1928 by one account or 1929 by another.3,1 It gave a lookout a roof, but not much of a view, so in 1934 a 30-foot wooden tower with a small 7-by-7-foot cab went up beside it; a 2016 newspaper account credits the construction, and the original cabin, to one builder, Stef Ludvikson.4

That tower lasted a little over three decades. In 1966 — one source gives 1967 — the Forest Service replaced it with the taller timber structure that still stands: a 41-foot tower topped by a 15-by-15-foot flattop R-6 cab, reached by 55 steps.3,1,4 A log cabin near its base served as a bunkhouse for fire-detection crews; one source describes it as moved to the site in the 1950s to replace an older, deteriorated building, which does not sit easily with the 1928/1929 date given for the original cabin elsewhere, so which structure is which is not entirely clear from the sources at hand.2 That cabin is still there but has had its roof deliberately caved in for safety.2

Staffed fire detection at Big Creek Baldy ended by the 1980s as aerial and other methods took over the job.2 The lookout did not sit empty for long: it entered the Forest Service's rental program in 1984, and by 2000 it had also been accepted onto the National Historic Lookout Register (US 341, MT 23).3,4

Today the tower is one of the more popular lookout rentals in the Libby area, with views that take in Lake Koocanusa, the Yaak River valley, and the Turner Mountain ski area.4,5 Sources differ slightly on the exact elevation — 5,732 feet per the National Historic Lookout Register, 5,768 or 5,780 feet elsewhere — a small discrepancy common to older lookout records.3,1,5

The lookout is open to overnight guests by reservation, typically mid-June through late September, and sleeps four in a double and a twin bed.5 There is no water or electricity on site — the nearest water source is Pipe Creek, about six miles downhill — so guests pack in their own supplies and pack out their trash.2,5 Two trails descend from the tower through forest and open, rocky ground marked by cairns, and a high-clearance vehicle is recommended for the drive up.2,5 It remains a working piece of Forest Service history rather than a museum piece: climb it, as a paying guest, and you are standing where a fire watcher once stood.

  1. Big Creek Baldy Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra), https://www.firelookout.com/mt/bigcreek.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Explore It All: Big Creek Baldy Lookout, Kootenai National Forest, Montana, National Forest Foundation, https://www.nationalforests.org/article/explore-it-all-big-creek-baldy-lookout-kootenai-national-forest-montana/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Big Creek Baldy Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/big-creek-baldy-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  4. Former fire lookouts a tool for tourism, The Western News, https://thewesternnews.com/news/2016/jul/12/former-fire-lookouts-a-tool-for-tourism-12/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  5. Big Creek Baldy Lookout Rental, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234399 (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Big Creek Baldy Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Big Creek Baldy in 1950
Big Creek Baldy in 1950 (1950)Photo: the Montana Memory Project and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Big Creek Baldy L.O.
Big Creek Baldy L.OPhoto: the Montana Memory Project and Gary Weber, via firelookout.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, what it is built of, 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. Recreation Information Database (recreation.gov) Gave us: ownership, access, rental details, links Data source: ridb.recreation.gov · Public data from the US government · retrieved 12 Oct 2026
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association: lookout rentals Gave us: rental details, links Forest Fire Lookout Association rentals list (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only (state, name, booking link, manager, closure note), no prose copied. The FFLA says it is not involved in managing any rental program. · retrieved 12 Oct 2026
  5. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: design, height, dates, 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
  6. Northwest Montana Lookout Association Gave us: dates, links Northwest Montana Lookout Association (nwmt-ffla.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, dimensions, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the NMLA page or PDF it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR and FFLA records (NMLA publishes none). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  7. 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
  8. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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

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