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Fire lookout · Mineral County, Montana

Thompson Peak Lookout Tower

Montana lookout rebuilt three times since c.1920; now a rentable cab atop a shared radio tower in the Lolo National Forest.

Visit & stay

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

Sleeps
Up to 4 people
Getting there
The facility can be accessed by vehicle on available dates between May 20 and October 10.

Rules

  • Clean the cabin before leaving

Overview Thompson Peak Lookout provides great views of the Clark Fork Valley, the town of Superior, the Idaho state line and, of course, the big sky of Montana. It is close enough to Superior to allow for easy access, but remote enough to provide the quiet and solitude expected at a lookout. The modernized tower provides amenities not typical to a lookout, making it a desirable place to stay. Recreation A variety of trails exist in the area, allowing visitors a chance to explore the surrounding forest. Wildlife spotting is also a popular activity. Most of all, visitors come to the tower to relax and enjoy the scenery. Facilities THE ONE-ROOM RENTAL CABIN IS EQUPPED WITH 1 TWIN-BED WITH A MATTRESS PAD AND SLEEPS UP TO FOUR PEOPLE. IT IS RECOMMENDED TO BRING COTS FOR ADDITIONAL SLEEPING OPTIONS. The facility has electricity and cell phone service, as well as an electric stove, heater, microwave and small refrigerator. Some basic eating and cooking utensils are supplied, as well as pots and pans, however drinking water is not available. An outhouse with a vault toilet is provided. Guests will need to bring water for drinking, cooking and cleaning purposes, as well as bedding, towels, soap, garbage bags and toilet paper. Guests will need to clean the cabin before leaving. Some basic cleaning equipment and supplies are provided. The facility can be accessed by vehicle on available dates between May 20 and October 10. It is closed to the public during the remainder of the year. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety. Natural Features The lookout is located on the third floor of a multiple story building that is used as a radio and cellular tower. Equipment is located on other floors of the building. It is constructed out of concrete blocks with an enclosed stairway, making it more suitable for children. The 2 million-acre Lolo National Forest includes four wilderness areas and a wide variety of trees, plants and wildlife. The area is home to mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, moose, deer and grizzly and black bears. Both the bald and golden eagle reside in the forest, along with trumpeter swan, herons and dozens of varieties of duck. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (406) 210-5287.

Book on recreation.gov

Rental details from recreation.gov, checked 12 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. available as a paid overnight rental via Recreation.gov; entry gate and lookout kept locked, access code sent with reservation

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
reached via Forest Service roads from Superior, MT; high-clearance driving, not a hike-in
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing sources disagree
Type
Three-story buildinglive-in cab on concrete tower base (resembles an air-traffic-control tower)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1920
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
4,593 ft (1,400 m)
Agency
USDA Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Mineral County, Montana
Coordinates
47.17841, −114.90755
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 12 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-thompson-peak-2

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. 1920 Builtfirst used about 1920 as a tree platform towerSource: firelookout.com
  2. 1934 Replaced by a new structure30-foot pole tower with L-4 cab replaced the tree platformSource: firelookout.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1984
  4. 1984 Replaced by a new structurepresent 20-foot concrete base with live-in cab replaced the pole tower after bear and vandalism damageSource: firelookout.com
  5. 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.

Thompson Peak, a mile southwest of Superior, Montana, has had fire detection on it since about 1920, when the Forest Service put up a simple tree platform tower.1 In 1934 that gave way to a 30-foot pole tower topped with a standard L-4 cab.1 The wooden tower had a rough run of it: bears gnawed at the legs, and vandals went after it with chainsaws.1 By 1984 the Forest Service had replaced it again, this time with the structure that stands today — a 20-foot concrete base holding a live-in cab, built on what is now a shared radio and cellular tower.1,2 The lookout cab occupies the third floor of that multi-story structure, with telecommunications equipment on the floors below, which gives it an unusual look, more air-traffic-control tower than classic fire lookout.1,2

Known staff over the decades include Fern Bonnell in 1950 and 1954, Garry O'Hara in 1953, and Katherine Mercer from 1957 to 1959.1 The lookout has not been regularly staffed for fire detection in recent years.1

Today Thompson Peak is part of the Lolo National Forest's recreation rental program, bookable through Recreation.gov.1,2 Because the building still carries active communications equipment on its lower floors, the site notes that repair crews may be working there even during a guest's stay, and the entry gate and lookout stay locked, with an access code sent at booking.2 The cabin sleeps up to four and has no water on site; getting there from Missoula means driving west on I-90 to Superior, then following Forest Service roads up to the peak.2

  1. Thompson Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/thompsonpk.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Thompson Peak Lookout Tower, Lolo National Forest, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234417 (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Thompson Peak in 1943
Thompson Peak in 1943 (1943)Photo: the National Archives and Records Administration, the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Thompson Peak in 1943
Thompson Peak in 1943 (1943)Photo: the National Archives and Records Administration, the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Thompson Peak L-4 tower
Thompson Peak L-4 towerPhoto: the National Archives and Records Administration, the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Thompson Peak in 1983
Thompson Peak in 1983 (1983)Photo: the National Archives and Records Administration, the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Thompson Peak in 1994
Thompson Peak in 1994 (1994)Photo: the National Archives and Records Administration, the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, Gary Weber, and Rex Kamstra, 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.

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.

    • FFLA: Standing
    • recreation.gov: Standing
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Standing
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): Gone

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. Recreation Information Database (recreation.gov) Gave us: name, agency, ownership, access, rental details, links Data source: ridb.recreation.gov · Public data from the US government · retrieved 12 Oct 2026
  3. 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 12 Oct 2026
  4. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: elevation, what it is built of, design, height, 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
  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, 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.