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Fire lookout · Ravalli County, Montana

Willow Mountain Lookout

1966 Bitterroot NF lookout on a 10-foot concrete base with R-6 cab, staffed most summers; still standing and NHLR-registered 2022. Current access and rental unconfirmed.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story building10-foot concrete base with R-6 flat cabThe design: R-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1966
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
8,206 ft (2,501 m)
Agency
US Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Ravalli County, Montana
Coordinates
46.32129, −113.90410
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mt-willow-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 4.2 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. 1966 BuiltBuilt in 1966 as a 10-foot concrete base with R-6 flat cabSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1966 Replaced by a new structureFirelookout.com says it replaced Palisade Mountain lookout 2 miles southeast; NHLR says it may have. Year assumed to be the build year.Sources: firelookout.com, nhlr.org
  3. 1966 First staffedEarliest listed personnel: Paul Albert, 1966-1967Source: firelookout.com
  4. 1969 StaffedRobert Smith to man the lookout in July 1969, per a Ravalli Republic item quoted on montanalookouts.weebly.comSource: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1969 and 2010
  6. 2010 FireDominic Point Fire threatened the lookout on July 25, 2010; lookout evacuated and saved by retardant drops (single source)Source: montanalookouts.weebly.com
  7. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 12, 2022 as US 1539, MT 102; nominated by Kyle StetlerSource: 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Willow Mountain is a late addition to the lookout network.1 It stands about 13 miles northeast of Hamilton in Ravalli County, inside the Bitterroot National Forest.1 The site was built in 1966 with a 10-foot concrete base and an R-6 flat cab.2 Firelookout.com says the tower replaced the Palisade Mountain lookout two miles to the southeast, while the Register says it may have.1,2

The Register says the lookout is staffed nearly every summer.2 Firelookout.com lists known personnel from 1966 to 2010, starting with Paul Albert in 1966 and 1967 and ending with Dean Mendenhall in 2010.1 A 1969 newspaper item, quoted on a Montana lookout history site, says a Hamilton man studying at Reed College in Portland would man the lookout that summer.3

On July 25, 2010, the Dominic Point Fire threatened the structure and the lookout was evacuated.3 The same site credits retardant drops with saving the lookout.3 Because this account rests on one site, treat the details as provisional.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as standing and shows it registered on the National Historic Lookout Register as US 1539, MT 102.4 The register entry gives April 12, 2022 as the registration date and says the US Forest Service administers the site.2 We found no current visitor, access or rental notice, and the lookout does not appear in the rental directory we checked. Because it is staffed in summer, check with the Bitterroot National Forest before you plan a visit, and do not climb the tower unless it is open to the public.

  1. Willow Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/mt/willowmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Willow Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mt/willow-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Willow Mountain, Forest Lookouts Montana (montanalookouts.weebly.com), https://montanalookouts.weebly.com/willow-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Montana Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mt/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Willow Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Willow Mtn. L.O.
Willow Mtn. L.OPhoto: Gary Weber, 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, 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, design, height, staffing, 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. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.