FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Flathead County, Montana

Loneman Lookout

Also known as Loneman Mountain

A Glacier National Park lookout above the Nyack valley with conflicting build dates (1929-1933) across sources; still standing.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Reachable by trail from Nyack Ranger Station; no source confirms public entry is permitted

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Reached by trail from Nyack Ranger Station
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingTwo-story wooden cab, 14x14-ft, similar to Apgar but with angle-braced catwalkThe design: National Park Service lookout
Built of
MixedGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1928
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
7,062 ft (2,153 m)
Agency
National Park Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Flathead County, Montana
Coordinates
48.48890, −113.76899
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-loneman

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 4.0 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. 1928 Builtfirelookout.com describes an earlier 1928 cabin destroyed by fire; not corroborated elsewhereSource: firelookout.com
  2. 1929 BuiltSource: firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page
  3. 1929 Rebuiltfirelookout.com dates the present cab to 1929Source: firelookout.com
  4. 1930 BuiltNHLR description and Wikipedia infobox both give 1930 for the present structureSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  5. 1933 EventWikipedia's article text separately states the structure was built in 1933, contradicting its own infoboxSource: en.wikipedia.org
  6. No record between 1933 and 1986
  7. 1986 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesAdded to NRHP February 14, 1986Source: en.wikipedia.org
  8. 1991 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 15, 1991 as US 36Source: nhlr.org
  9. 1998 RestoredCompletely renovated in 1998Source: firelookout.com
  10. No record between 1998 and 2017
  11. 2017 Condition assessmentAssessment for the Park after fording the Middle Fork and Nyack Creek; the lookout was staffed that season.Sources: nwmt-ffla.org, nwmt-ffla.org
  12. 2021 Condition assessmentTwo-day assessment: good condition, minor maintenance only.Sources: nwmt-ffla.org, nwmt-ffla.org
  13. 2024 Condition assessmentAugust assessment: interior good, catwalk weakened and rotting, paint worn.Sources: nwmt-ffla.org, 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.

Loneman Lookout stands above the Nyack valley in the southern part of Glacier National Park, reached by trail from the Nyack Ranger Station.1 It is a 14-by-14-foot two-story cab much like Apgar Lookout, except its catwalk is braced with angle supports rather than plain posts.1 Accounts of its early history do not agree. The National Historic Lookout Register and Wikipedia's infobox date the present structure to 1930, while firelookout.com says it was built in 1929 to replace an earlier 1928 cabin that had been destroyed by fire, and Wikipedia's own article text separately states a construction date of 1933.1,2,3 The fire that destroyed an earlier structure is mentioned only by firelookout.com; no other source consulted confirms it.

Like its neighbors on Apgar Mountain and Mount Brown, Loneman was built to a standard U.S. Forest Service design, adapted by the Park Service as part of a chain of lookouts meant to give overlapping views across Glacier's backcountry.2 No source consulted gives details on specific staff members or notable fires spotted from the tower.

Loneman was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 14, 1986, and registered with the National Historic Lookout Register on September 15, 1991, as US 36.1,2 Firelookout.com reports that the cab was completely renovated in 1998.3

The lookout still stands at just over 7,000 feet elevation and is administered by the National Park Service.1 It can be reached by trail, but none of the sources consulted say it is open to the public to enter or stay in, so it is best treated as a historic structure to visit from outside.

  1. Loneman Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/loneman-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Loneman Fire Lookout, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loneman_Fire_Lookout (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Loneman Mountain Lookout, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/loneman.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Loneman Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Loneman Mtn. in 1949
Loneman Mtn. in 1949 (1949)Photo: the National Park Service, Bill Yake and Leif Haugen, via firelookout.com · source
Loneman Mtn. in 1949
Loneman Mtn. in 1949 (1949)Photo: the National Park Service, Bill Yake and Leif Haugen, via firelookout.com · source
Loneman Mtn. in 1966
Loneman Mtn. in 1966 (1966)Photo: the National Park Service, Bill Yake and Leif Haugen, via firelookout.com · source
Loneman Mtn. L.O.
Loneman Mtn. L.OPhoto: the National Park Service, Bill Yake and Leif Haugen, via firelookout.com · source
Loneman Mtn. L.O.
Loneman Mtn. L.OPhoto: the National Park Service, Bill Yake and Leif Haugen, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Loneman Lookout
Photo: National Park Service inventory, 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, 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, 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. Northwest Montana Lookout Association Gave us: design, height, 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
  5. 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
  6. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 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, 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.