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Fire lookout · Missoula County, Montana

Holland Ridge Lookout

Also known as Holland Lookout

Missoula County site with a 1931 14x14 ft stone and shake cabin still standing; its gabled L-4 cab, abandoned in 1953, is gone; reached by a 6.3-mile hike.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. Hike from a trailhead in the Flathead National Forest; no closure or permit found in the sources read

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About 6.3 miles one way from the trailhead, with roughly 4,000 ft of climbing (2014 hike report)
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing sources disagree
Type
Ground-level cab14x14 ft stone and shake cabin (1931); gabled L-4 cab from the early 1930s, no longer standingThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,046 ft (2,452 m)
Agency
US Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Missoula County, Montana
Coordinates
47.46790, −113.56190 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-holland-ridge

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 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. 1921 EventSite first established with a camp; the source gives no structure for 1921Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1931 Built14x14 ft stone and shake cabin; still standing per the register and Firelookout.comSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, tallpineshiker.blogspot.com
  3. No record between 1931 and 1953
  4. 1953 AbandonedRegister and Firelookout.com say the L-4 cab was abandoned and is gone; the 2014 blog says the 1931 stone cabin was abandoned that year and is still thereSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, tallpineshiker.blogspot.com
  5. No record between 1953 and 2021
  6. 2021 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 9, 2021 as US 1494, MT 72; nominated by Kyle StetlerSource: nhlr.org
  7. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Holland Ridge has long served as a fire detection point, and a camp was set up there in 1921.1 The building that still stands there is a 14-by-14-foot cabin of stone and shake, built in 1931.1,2

The site also had a gabled L-4 cab, which both the National Historic Lookout Register and Firelookout.com date to the early 1930s. Firelookout.com puts a question mark after that date.1,2 The sources we read name no one who staffed the lookout and no particular fire it watched.

The register dates the L-4 cab's abandonment to 1953, and the cab is gone from the site.1 Firelookout.com says the same about the cab.2 A 2014 hike report, however, says the stone and shake cabin was abandoned in 1953 and is still there.3 That report is a personal blog, and it disagrees with the two lookout sites about which building the 1953 date applies to. The firelookout.org list marks the site as "Ground Gone," which matches the missing cab but not the standing cabin.4

Today the register reports that the stone and shake cabin remains and has received some upkeep in recent years.1 Firelookout.com says the same.2 We found no source describing a rental at the site.

The Forest Service administers the site in the Swan Lake Ranger District of the Flathead National Forest, in Missoula County.1 A 2014 hike report describes the route as about 6.3 miles one way from a large trailhead, with roughly 4,000 feet of climbing, and it describes a popular hiking area with many trails starting at the same place.3

The register gives the elevation as 8,046 feet, while Firelookout.com gives 7,460 feet, so the sources disagree.1,2 The register lists the site as US 1494, MT 72, registered on January 9, 2021.1

  1. Holland Ridge Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/holland-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Holland Ridge Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/hollandridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Holland lookout cabin, Tall Pines Hiker, https://tallpineshiker.blogspot.com/2014/10/holland-lookout-cabin.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Montana Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mt/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Holland Ridge Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Holland Ridge Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Holland Ridge Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Holland Ridge in 1921
Holland Ridge in 1921 (1921)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Masters collection, Jim Davis, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Holland Ridge L.O.
Holland Ridge L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Masters collection, Jim Davis, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Holland Ridge L.O.
Holland Ridge L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Masters collection, Jim Davis, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Holland Ridge in 2018
Holland Ridge in 2018 (2018)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Masters collection, Jim Davis, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source

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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 whether it still stands.

    • Firefinder research: Standing
    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Standing
    • OpenStreetMap: Standing

    Research (2026-10-09) gives standing where the source records give gone. The page shows the researched status; please tell us if it is wrong.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 600 m.

    • NHLR: 47.46790, −113.56190
    • FFLA: 47.46501, −113.55517

    They share a register number.

    The map uses the position from NHLR.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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: what it is built of, design, 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
  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

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