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Fire lookout · Flathead County, Montana

Garry Lookout Site

Flathead NF 30-foot pole L-4 tower built 1934 half a mile above US 2; destroyed in 1974 per the register's description and two other sources; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register description and two other sources say destroyed in 1974; no source describes what remains

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Register says the site is accessible via the 2-mile Garry Lookout Trail #499 from US 2; no closure or permit requirement appears in the sources read

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
2-mile Garry Lookout Trail #499 from US 2 along the Middle Fork Flathead River (per register)

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot pole L-4 tower, about half a mile above U.S. Highway 2The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
4,499 ft (1,371 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Flathead County, Montana
Coordinates
48.40925, −113.73400
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-garry

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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 4.0 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. 1934 BuiltBuilt 1934 per the register's Built field and description; firelookout.com and the Montana History Portal agree on 1934Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, mtmemory.org
  2. No record between 1934 and 1974
  3. 1974 DestroyedRegister description, firelookout.com and Montana History Portal say destroyed in 1974; the register's Removed field also gives 1974Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, mtmemory.org
  4. 1974 Removed'Removed' field on FFLOS detail page: "1974".Source: FFLOS register entry
  5. No record between 1974 and 2020
  6. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: March 24, 2020Source: FFLOS register entry
  7. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Garry Lookout stood in the Flathead National Forest, in Flathead County, Montana, about 13 miles southeast of West Glacier.1 The register gives its elevation as 4,499 feet, or 1,371 meters.2

The lookout went up in 1934.2,3 Firelookout.com describes it as a 30-foot pole L-4 tower, set about half a mile above U.S. Highway 2.1

The register lists 1974 as the year it was removed, but its own description says the lookout was destroyed that year.2 Firelookout.com and the Montana History Portal also say it was destroyed in 1974.1,3 The Glacier National Park Archives holds a 1971 photograph of the lookout, credited to David S. Shea.3

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains of the lookout today. The register says the site can be reached by the 2-mile Garry Lookout Trail #499, which starts at U.S. Highway 2 and follows the Middle Fork Flathead River.2 Check current trail conditions with the Flathead National Forest before you go, since we could not confirm them.

  1. Garry Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/garry.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Garry Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/mt/garry-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Garry fire lookout, Montana History Portal (Glacier National Park Archives), https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/5247 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

1971 photo
1971 photo (1971)Photo: Glacier National Park, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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: 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.