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Fire lookout · Sanders County, Montana

Sex Peak Lookout

Current 1948 L-4 groundhouse on Sex Peak, staffed until the mid-1970s, NHLR-listed in 1996, refurbished into a Forest Service rental cabin in 1986.

Visit & stay

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

Season
late June through mid-October and is accessible by car
Sleeps
Up to 4 people
Getting there
The lookout is typically open from late June through mid-October and is accessible by car.

Rules

  • Pack out all trash

Overview Sex Peak Lookout is situated in the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 5,772 feet in the Kootenai National Forest. The original lookout was constructed in the early 1920s and replaced by the current lookout in 1948. The peak was named by I.V. Anderson, an early forester, and Harry Baker, supervisor of what was then Cabinet National Forest. It is rumored that they named the peak after their topic of conversation at the time. The lookout is typically open from late June through mid-October and is accessible by car. This rustic retreat offers a few amenities, but guests should pack in most of their own supplies and gear. Recreation Old logging roads provide a way for hikers and mountain bikers to explore the area. Wild berries ripen in the area during the summer, inviting berry pickers. Facilities The 14x14-ft. lookout has windows on all sides and is encircled by a catwalk. The cabin sleeps 4 people and is equipped 2 twin size beds with mattresses. Other amenities include a table, chair, bench, a wood stove for heat, broom and dustpan. Firewood is provided. An outhouse with vault toilet and a campfire ring are located outside. The lookout does not have electricity or water. Guests should being enough water for drinking, cooking and washing. Items such as a cook stove, cooking gear, bedding, lanterns or flashlights, matches, extra toilet paper, first aid supplies, trash bags, dish soap, towels and an ice chest are not available. Guests are expected to pack out their trash and clean the cabin before leaving. Natural Features The lookout sits on a mound of rocks surrounded by evergreen forest. It offers panoramic views of Clarks Fork Valley, the Bitterroot Mountains to the west and the Cabinet Range to the east. This is an ideal vantage point to enjoy sunrises and sunsets and gaze out at starry skies on clear nights. Kootenai National Forest supports populations of deer, elk, moose, grizzly and black bears, wolves and mountain lions (bear safety). A variety of smaller mammals and birds can also be found.

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. Accessible by car via forest roads; easterly loop road segment subject to seasonal closures.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Not staffed (as of mid-1970s)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabL-4The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1920
Height
796 ft (242.6 m)
Elevation
5,747 ft (1,752 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Kootenai National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Sanders County, Montana
Coordinates
47.72292, −115.64475
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 19 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-sex-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 4.4 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. 1920 BuiltFirst lookout; Recreation.gov says 'early 1920s' while firelookout.com describes the first cab as '1930 vintage' — sources disagree on the date.Sources: firelookout.com, recreation.gov
  2. No record between 1920 and 1948
  3. 1948 Replaced by a new structureCurrent L-4 groundhouse with catwalk built, replacing the earlier cab.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, recreation.gov
  4. No record between 1948 and 1975
  5. 1975 Last staffedStaffed until the mid-1970s.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  6. 1986 Opened as a rentalRefurbished and placed in the Forest Service cabin rental program.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  7. 1996 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterListed on the National Historic Lookout Register as US 179 on August 20, 1996.Source: nhlr.org
  8. No record between 1996 and 2015
  9. 2015 RestoredNMLA's first renovation on the Kootenai NF: two walls repaired, cab ceiling cleaned, 76 window panes reglazed and painted, door and vent windows repaired.Sources: nwmt-ffla.org, nwmt-ffla.org
  10. 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.

Sex Peak's unusual name goes back to the 1920s, when two Forest Service men, forester I.V. Anderson and Cabinet National Forest supervisor Harry Baker, named the summit. The most common story is that they named it for whatever they happened to be talking about that day.1,2 A first lookout went up on the peak before the current one; Recreation.gov dates it to the early 1920s, while firelookout.com describes that first cab as a 1930-vintage L-4, so the exact year is unclear.2,3 Either way, it was replaced in 1948 by the L-4 groundhouse with a catwalk that still stands today.1,2

The lookout was staffed into the mid-1970s, part of the Kootenai National Forest's fire-detection network.1,2 One known staffer was reported in 1967: John and Debra Hubenthal.2 The name apparently lived up to itself at least once, when a Forest Service patrol plane flying low over the lookout in the 1960s reportedly spotted a couple sunbathing naked on the rocks nearby.2

After fire detection from the ground tower ended, the Forest Service refurbished the lookout and added it to its cabin rental program in 1986.1,2 It was also listed on the National Historic Lookout Register, as US 179, on August 20, 1996.1

Sex Peak Lookout is still standing and still rentable today. The cabin is a 14-by-14-foot structure with windows on all sides and a surrounding catwalk, sleeping up to four people on two twin beds, with a table, chairs, a bench, and a wood stove for heat.3 There's no running water, so guests pack in their own, along with bedding, cooking gear, and other basics the Forest Service doesn't supply.3 The lookout sits at about 5,772 feet and is reachable by a roughly 20-mile drive on forest roads from the Cabinet Ranger Station, with the easterly stretch of the loop road subject to seasonal closures.3 From the catwalk, renters can look out over the Clark Fork Valley, the Bitterroot Mountains to the west, and the Cabinet Range to the east.3

  1. Sex Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/sex-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Sex Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/sexpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Sex Peak. Lookout Rental, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234433 (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Sex Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sex Peak L.O.
Sex Peak L.OPhoto: Gary Weber and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Sex Peak in 2012
Sex Peak in 2012 (2012)Photo: Gary Weber and Luke Channer, 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.

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: 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
  6. Northwest Montana Lookout Association Gave us: 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, 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, staffing, 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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