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Fire lookout · Klamath County, Oregon

Bald Mountain Lookout

Klamath County summit lookout; present 1941 L-4 replaced an earlier 1928 steel tower; register height of 18.3 m matches a 1928 announcement, not the present 29.5-foot tower.

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 (as of undated)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerClassic L-4 hip-roof cab with catwalk on a 29-foot-6-inch treated timber towerCab: L-4; tower: Aermotor
Built of
Wood
Height
30 ft (9.0 m)
Elevation
7,377 ft (2,249 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Fremont National Forest; Silver Lake Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Klamath County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.27447, −121.35537
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-bald-mountain-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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1917 EventTelephone line strung from the Oatman Ranger Station to Bald MountainSources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1928 BuiltSteel tower under 30 feet with a 12x12 Aermotor live-in cab (register); 1928 newspapers report a 60-foot tower announced in April and a 40-foot tower in JuneSources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1932 EventFirelookout.com says the site was established with a 20-foot wooden L-4 cab; the register gives 1928 for the first towerSource: firelookout.com
  4. 1938 StaffedGuy Martin is lookout for the summer, per the Lake County TribuneSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1941 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  6. 1941 Replaced by a new structurePresent L-4 cab with catwalk on a 29-foot-6-inch tower constructed by the Forest Service; a May 1941 newspaper said the old tower would be torn down; firelookout.com gives 28 feet, which the story notesSources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1941 and 1988
  8. 1988 StaffedJeff Johnston spends the summer as observer; the paper calls it the highest manned fire lookout in Central OregonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1988 and 2003
  10. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 31, 2003 as US 480, OR 73Source: nhlr.org
  11. 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.

Bald Mountain Lookout stands at about 7,400 feet on Bald Mountain in Klamath County, Oregon, on what was then the Fremont National Forest.1,2 The register says a telephone line was strung from the Oatman Ranger Station to the summit in 1917, and that a steel tower under 30 feet, with a 12-by-12-foot Aermotor cab, went up in 1928.1 Newspapers of that year gave other heights: a 60-foot tower announced in April, and a 40-foot steel tower reported in June.3

Firelookout.com dates the site's start to 1932, with a 20-foot wooden L-4 cab.2 The early records disagree, but they agree on what came next. In 1941 the Forest Service built the present lookout: an L-4 hip-roof cab with a catwalk, on a treated-timber tower of about 29.5 feet (firelookout.com gives 28).1,2 A May 1941 newspaper said the outdated tower would come down and be replaced by a taller one.3

Observers worked the tower in summer.3 The Lake County Tribune reported in 1938 that Guy Martin would be the lookout that season, and in 1939 it described him spotting a lightning-started fire.3 In 1988 a newspaper profile called the summit the highest staffed lookout in Central Oregon, and quoted the Walker Range Patrol supervisor praising the observer, Jeff Johnston.3 The register says the site has been run by the Walker Range Patrol, and in its early days by the Klamath Forest Protective Association.1

Firelookout.com says the lookout is staffed by the Walker FPA.2 A Cheryl Hill index lists it as unmanned, so its current status is unclear from these sources.4 The register listed the site on March 31, 2003, as US 480, OR 73.1

The available sources do not say whether visitors may go up into the cab. Check with the Fremont-Winema National Forest, Silver Lake Ranger District, before planning a trip.1,4

  1. Bald Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/bald-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Bald Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/baldmtn88.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Bald Mountain, Forest Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/bald-mountain5.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Oregon's Standing Lookouts, Cheryl Hill, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/oregons-standing-lookouts/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bald Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bald Mtn. in 1997
Bald Mtn. in 1997 (1997)Photo: Howard Verschoor, via firelookout.com · source

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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.

    • NHLR: 1941
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1941
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1947

    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, what it is built of, 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: design, 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: 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
  5. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: links Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill, cherylhill.net) · No licence stated; facts only (name, agency, elevation, year built, design and height, status word, links). Posts' narrative and photos are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, staffing, 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.