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Fire lookout · Clackamas County, Oregon

Bedford Point Lookout Site

Gone Forest Service lookout in Clackamas County: 1931 tent, 1939 20-foot L-4 tower, deactivated 1964; a 2020 hike found footings, not a tower.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in the 1960s; a 2020 hiking account found concrete footings and no tower.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. By 2020 a berm on the forest road stopped vehicles where the hike began. No current access rule was found in any source.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About 2.2 miles on foot along the old road from the berm to the spur road up to the summit (2020 hiking account).

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower20-foot treated timber L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1932
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
2,359 ft (719 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Clackamas County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.22068, −122.17897
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-bedford-point

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.7 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. 1931 EventFirst lookout: a tent with a fire finder and a telephoneSource: firetower.org
  2. 1932 BuiltNewspaper item: a new lookout station completed at Bedford Point, July 1932. Conflicts with the 1939 tower date.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1932 StaffedEverett Osborne to have charge of the lookout that season (planned, per 1932 notice)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1935 StaffedJoyce Pederson presided at the stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1939 BuiltReplacement 20-foot pole L-4 tower on a minor point overlooking Bedford CreekSources: firelookout.com, firetower.org
  6. 1941 StaffedLookout manned for 120 daysSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1947 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey description: wooden lookout house about 12 feet square and 15 feet high, peaked roofSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1956 StaffedBob Bywnn of West Linn manning the station, which relayed messages to the Estacada ranger stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1964 AbandonedLookout deactivatedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1969 RemovedRegister says gone by 1969; the history page and the 2020 account say removed in the 1960sSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, cherylhill.net
  11. No record between 1969 and 2010
  12. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 17, 2010 as US 574, OR 15Source: firetower.org
  13. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Bedford Point is a summit in the Mount Hood National Forest, about nine miles southeast of Estacada in Clackamas County, at 2,359 feet.1 The first lookout, set up in 1931, was a tent with a fire finder and a telephone.2 A 1932 newspaper notice, quoted on an Oregon lookout history page, reported that a new station had been finished there that July.3 The register says the tent gave way in 1939 to a 20-foot pole L-4 tower on a small point above Bedford Creek.2,1 A federal survey from 1947 described the lookout house as wooden, about 12 feet on each side and 15 feet tall, with a peaked roof.3 No source explains how that house relates to the 1939 tower.1,2,3

The Forest Service planned to have Everett Osborne in charge of the new lookout that season.3 A 1935 item said Joyce Pederson presided at the station, and in 1941 the lookout was manned for 120 days.3 A 1956 account called it a primary station that passed messages on to the Estacada ranger station, and named Bob Bywnn of West Linn as its operator.3 A June 1932 notice also said the lookout would give a view of the whole North Fork and the LaDee burn.3

A lookout history page says the station was deactivated in 1964 and then removed.3 The register gives 1969 as the year it was gone.2 A 2020 hiking account also reports the tower came down in the 1960s, yet the map still lists it as Bedford Point Lookout.4

A hiker who went up in April 2020 found the top thickly grown over, with no outlook.4 The hiker also came across concrete footings, one knocked down, plus part of a rock wall and an old cable.4 By 2020 a berm on the forest road stopped vehicles where the hike began, and the walk to the spur road up to the summit was about 2.2 miles.4 The April 2020 account is the most recent description found.4 No source found gives a current access rule.

  1. Bedford Point Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/bedfordpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Bedford Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/bedford-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bedford Point, Oregon Lookouts history site, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/bedford-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Bedford Point – Just Peachy, Just Peachy hiking blog, http://cherylhill.net/blog/2020/04/30/bedford-point/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bedford Point Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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: 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. 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

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