FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Mineral County, Montana

Camel's Hump Lookout

Standing R-6 lookout on the Lolo National Forest, Mineral County, Montana; present tower dated 1960 or 1961; staffing today unconfirmed.

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.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2022)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 cab on a 41-foot treated timber towerThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
5,888 ft (1,795 m)
Agency
US Forest Service, Lolo National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Mineral County, Montana
Coordinates
47.36715, −115.16270
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-camels-hump

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 4.4 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 EventNamed among new Lolo structures in a 1928 newspaper report quoted by Forest LookoutsSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 StaffedA lookout was employed on Camel's Hump in 1932, per a Mineral Independent item quoted by Forest LookoutsSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 BuiltDecember 1956 inspection form gives 'Year Built - 1933' for the tower then standing (50-foot catwalk, 14 by 14 foot cab)Source: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1935 BuiltFirst lookout, a 20-foot pole tower with L-4 cab, per the Register and firelookout.comSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1935 and 1956
  6. 1956 Condition assessmentDecember 1956 Forest Service inspection recommended replacing the tower within two yearsSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1960 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  8. 1960 Replaced by a new structurePresent 41-foot treated timber tower with R-6 cab; the Register gives 1960, firelookout.com gives 1961Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1960 and 2022
  10. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 12, 2022 as US 1546, MT 109; nominated by Kyle StetlerSource: 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.

Camel's Hump Lookout stands in Mineral County, Montana, on the Lolo National Forest.1 The National Historic Lookout Register lists the US Forest Service as its administrator.1 A lookout site places it six miles northwest of St. Regis.2

The early dates disagree. A 1928 newspaper report, quoted by Forest Lookouts, named Camel's Hump among new Lolo structures that year, and a 1932 notice says a lookout was employed there.3 A Forest Service inspection dated December 1956 gave the tower then standing a build year of 1933, a height of 50 feet to the catwalk and a 14-by-14-foot cab, and it recommended replacement within two years.3 The Register describes a first lookout built in 1935: a 20-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab.1 The sources do not show whether the 1933 structure and the 1935 pole tower are the same building.

The Register says the present tower, a 41-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 cab, went up in 1960. The lookout site says 1961.1,2 The 1956 inspection recorded the older tower's members as untreated.3

The Register and the lookout site both say the tower is staffed every summer.1,2 The lookout site also lists known lookout workers from 1955 through 1968.2 We found no newer staffing record, so that claim is unconfirmed.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as standing.4 We found no visit or rental information. Ask the Lolo National Forest about access before planning a trip, and do not climb a tower that is closed.

  1. Camel's Hump Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/camels-hump-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Camels Hump Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/mt/camelshump.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Camels Hump, Forest Lookouts (montanalookouts.weebly.com), https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/camels-hump.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Montana Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mt/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Camel's Hump Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Camels Hump L.O.
Camels Hump L.OPhoto: Gary Weber and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Camels Hump in 2019
Camels Hump in 2019 (2019)Photo: Gary Weber and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Camels Hump in 2019
Camels Hump in 2019 (2019)Photo: Gary Weber and Rex Kamstra, 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.

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 year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1960
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1935

    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, 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: design, height, staffing, 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. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, staffing, 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.