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Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Montana

Webb Mountain Lookout

A 1930 Columbia Falls kit cabin was replaced in 1959 by the concrete-and-R-6 cab standing today, survived a 1994 fire scare, and is now a Kootenai NF rental.

Visit & stay

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

Sleeps
Up to 5 people
Getting there
The lookout is accessible by car and the roads are well maintained; however, the last quarter mile of the access road is steep and rocky and not suited for low clearance vehicles.

Rules

  • Pack out all trash

Overview Webb Mountain Lookout is perched at 5,988 feet atop its namesake mountain in Kootenai National Forest. The lookout was built in 1959 and used as an observation point for fighting forest fires for over 40 years. The structure rests on a concrete block basement and encompasses 196 square feet. The lookout is accessible by car and the roads are well maintained; however, the last quarter mile of the access road is steep and rocky and not suited for low clearance vehicles. This rustic cabin offers a few amenities, but guests should be prepared to pack in most of their own supplies and gear. Recreation The lookout is located in the Koocanusa Area, which offers a variety of recreational opportunities. Koocanusa Reservoir is the major recreation attraction in this geographic area, providing ideal settings for large watercraft and sailing. The reservoir contains a large and stable population of Kookanee salmon, rainbow trout, bull trout, West slope cutthroat trout and burbot. Big game hunting is also possible around the reservoir. The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail is accessible from Webb Mountain. It descends the mountain and crosses Lake Koocanusa Bridge, meandering along the east side of the Koocanusa Reservoir. Facilities The lookout cabin is surrounded by windows on all sides and is encircled by a catwalk. It can accommodate up to 5 people on 1 twin size bed with mattress and 4 additional mattresses. Other amenities include a wood stove, table, benches and cleaning gear. An outhouse is located nearby and a campfire ring is provided at the base of the tower. Firewood is available. Water and electricity are not available. Guests need to bring their own water supply 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 This lookout has many nice locations to enjoy the awe-inspiring scenery, which includes views of Koocanusa Reservoir and Mount Henry. Mountain peaks stretch out as far as the eye can see, and the surrounding area is covered in mixed evergreen forest. From this altitude, guests can enjoy beautiful sunrises and sunsets and starry skies at night. 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 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. Drivable to within a quarter mile; final stretch is steep and rocky, unsuitable for low-clearance vehicles.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Sits directly on the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6 flat cab on 10-foot concrete baseThe design: R-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
5,985 ft (1,824 m)
Agency
US Forest Service, Kootenai National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lincoln County, Montana
Coordinates
48.81801, −115.34376
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 12 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-webb-mountain

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. 1930 Built14x14' Columbia Falls 'redi-cut' cab developed on the site.Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1930 and 1959
  3. 1959 Replaced by a new structureOriginal cabin replaced with a 10' concrete base topped by a flat-roofed R-6 cab, the structure standing today.Sources: nhlr.org, recreation.gov
  4. No record between 1959 and 1994
  5. 1994 FireA forest fire threatened the lookout; it survived.Source: nhlr.org
  6. No record between 1994 and 2021
  7. 2021 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to the National Historic Lookout Register, January 9, 2021.Source: nhlr.org
  8. 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.

Webb Mountain's first lookout went up in 1930, a 14-by-14-foot cabin built from a Columbia Falls "redi-cut" kit.1 A separate 35-foot tree platform stood about half a mile to the west, giving crews another vantage point over this stretch of the Kootenai National Forest.1 The original cabin didn't last: in 1959 the Forest Service replaced it with the structure still on the summit today, a 10-foot concrete base topped by a flat-roofed R-6 cab.1,2

For decades the lookout served its intended purpose, watching for smoke across the Kootenai country for more than 40 years.2 In 1994 a forest fire came close enough to threaten the building itself, though it survived.1

Rather than let the tower sit empty, the Forest Service added it to the recreation rental program, and it's been available to overnight guests ever since.1,2 The cabin sits at roughly 5,988 feet, ringed by a catwalk and lit on all sides by windows, with a wood stove, table, and sleeping space for up to five people; there's no running water or electricity, so renters pack in their own supplies.2 A car can make it most of the way up, but the final quarter mile of access road is steep and rocky enough that low-clearance vehicles should not attempt it.2 The lookout also sits directly on the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, so renters may find through-hikers passing by.2 It was added to the National Historic Lookout Register on January 9, 2021.3

Sources disagree slightly on how to date the structure: some treat 1930 as the lookout's founding year and others effectively date the current building to 1959, when the original cabin was replaced.1,2

  1. Webb Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/webb-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Webb Mtn. Lookout Rental, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234384 (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Webb Mountain, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/webb-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Webb Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Webb Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Webb Mtn. L.O.
Webb Mtn. L.OPhoto: Gary Weber and Gary Marin, via firelookout.com · source
Webb Mtn. L.O.
Webb Mtn. L.OPhoto: Gary Weber and Gary Marin, 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 the year it was built.

    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1930
    • recreation.gov: 1959

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

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 12 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 12 Oct 2026
  5. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: 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
  6. 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
  7. 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.