FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Flathead County, Montana

Hornet Peak Lookout

Also known as Hornet Lookout, Hornet Lookout Cabin, Hornet Mountain Lookout

A 1922-23 D-1 log cupola cabin on Hornet Mountain in Flathead National Forest, staffed 1923-1946, later abandoned and then restored as a rental cabin.

Visit & stay

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

Pets
Allowed
Fee
Reservations can be made one to 180 days in advance. The rental fee is $40 per night and there is a maximum stay of three consecutive nights with a total of seven days per calendar year. Federal Pass discounts do not apply.

Overview Hornet Lookout provides guests with astounding 360-degree views of the surrounding terrain, including Glacier National Park and Kintla Lake on clear days. On some nights, the Northern Lights may be seen from the lookout. Visitors also enjoy access to a variety of recreational activities. Access to the lookout requires a one-mile hike from the trailhead at the parking area. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Recreation Hiking and mountain biking on the gravel roads and trails are among the activities available in the area. Viewing wildlife is another rewarding pastime. Facilities The two-story lookout sits at ground level. The ground level provides a living space for two guests and the second story is a small loft used solely for full views of the region. The lookout's rustic accommodations include a propane cook stove, propane lantern, two cots, a small wood stove for heat. A pit toilet is provided outside the lookout. Pets are allowed, but cleaning up after them is required. No water is available. Guests should pack their own bedding, water, first aid kit and food, among other necessities. Click here for more cabin details. Natural Features The scenic lookout is perched atop Hornet Peak, at an elevation of 6,744 feet. Nearby peaks include Wedge Mountain and Akinkoka Peak. The rustic lookout was built in 1922 and, in its prime, played an integral role for detecting forest fires in the North Fork area. A 2003 wildfire charred the surrounding area, but wildflowers and bear grass are making a comeback. Glacier View Ranger District is bordered on the east by the North Fork of the Flathead River and Glacier National Park. To the north is Canada and west is the Montana's Kootenai National Forest. Nearby Attractions Glacier National Park and the Wild and Scenic North Fork of the Flathead River are nearby.

Book on recreation.gov

Rental details from recreation.gov, checked 19 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. Open as a paid Recreation.gov rental; narrow access road (FS Road 9805)

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Reached by road (Hornet Road 9805), described as narrow with few pullouts
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabD-1 style log cupola cabin, 14x14 ft single-room log cabin, saddle-notched logsThe design: D-1
Built of
LogsGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1922
Height
15 ft (4.6 m)
Elevation
6,737 ft (2,053 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Flathead County, Montana
Coordinates
48.87974, −114.51267
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 19 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-hornet-peak

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 4.1 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. 1922 BuiltConstruction began 1922, completed 1923, in response to the 1910 firesSource: en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1923 First staffedStaffed each summer starting 1923Source: en.wikipedia.org
  3. No record between 1923 and 1946
  4. 1946 Last staffedStaffed each summer until approximately 1946Source: en.wikipedia.org
  5. No record between 1946 and 1983
  6. 1983 EventAdded to the National Register of Historic Places, August 19, 1983Source: en.wikipedia.org
  7. No record between 1983 and 2003
  8. 2003 FireA wildfire burned the surrounding area in 2003; the lookout itself survivedSource: recreation.gov
  9. 2016 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, November 27, 2016Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2022 EventCentennial celebration on September 10, hosted by the Forest Service with NMLA board members helping; more preservation work planned.Sources: nwmt-ffla.org, nwmt-ffla.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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Hornet Peak Lookout sits on the summit of Hornet Mountain in the North Fork area of Montana's Flathead National Forest, about 45 miles north of Columbia Falls.1 It was built by Forest Service crews between 1922 and 1923, in the years after the catastrophic fires of 1910 pushed the agency to build out a chain of lookouts across the North Fork for early fire detection.1 Seasonal employees put it up for $719.38, using logs and other materials found on site or packed in by trail.1 The result is a D-1 style log cupola cabin, a single 14-by-14-foot room built of saddle-notched logs 8 to 10 inches thick, with built-in storage, a wood stove, two bed frames, and a hand-carved chair inside.1 Nearby, white-painted rocks spelling out "Hornet L.O." in letters about four feet tall still mark the site.1

The lookout was staffed every summer from 1923 until roughly 1946, part of the North Fork's fire-watch network.1 At some point after that it fell out of use and sat abandoned for a number of years before the Forest Service restored it.2 A wildfire swept through the surrounding country in 2003, scorching the landscape around the tower, though the lookout itself survived and the area has since begun growing back in wildflowers and bear grass.3

Hornet Peak was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 19, 1983, and later entered on the National Historic Lookout Register in 2016.1,2 Today it's one of the Flathead National Forest's rental cabins, bookable through Recreation.gov from mid-June through October for about $40 a night.1,3 The two-story structure offers simple ground-level living space plus a small loft, with a propane stove, propane lantern, two cots, and a wood stove for heat, but no running water — guests pack in everything they need, including their own water and bedding.3 The access road, Hornet Road 9805, is described as narrow with few pullouts, so visitors are advised to drive carefully and check with the Glacier View Ranger District on conditions before heading up.3

  1. Hornet Lookout, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet_Lookout (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Hornet Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/hornet-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Hornet Lookout Cabin, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234341 (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

July 2016 photo
July 2016 photo (2016)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
July 2016 photo
July 2016 photo (2016)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
July 2016 photo
July 2016 photo (2016)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
July 2016 photo
July 2016 photo (2016)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
July 2016 photo
July 2016 photo (2016)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
July 2016 photo
July 2016 photo (2016)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Hornet Peak in 1923
Hornet Peak in 1923 (1923)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Hornet Peak L.O.
Hornet Peak L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Hornet Peak in 2016
Hornet Peak in 2016 (2016)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Hornet Peak in 2016
Hornet Peak in 2016 (2016)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Hornet Peak Lookout
Photo: USFS, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · 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, 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 19 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 19 Oct 2026
  5. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: height, 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: what it is built of, design, 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. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: register numbers, photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  8. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  9. 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
  10. 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

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