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Fire lookout · Multnomah County, Oregon

Big Bend Lookout Site

Also known as Big Bend Mountain

Multnomah County, OR wooden L-4 lookout built by the USFS in 1933; staffed 79 days in 1941; gone by about 1950; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed about 1949-1950; the sources differ on the year

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

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

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Lookout gone; no source describes the site today or a route to it

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerWooden tower with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,017 ft (1,224 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Mount Hood National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Multnomah County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.48285, −121.95340
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-big-bend

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.9 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. 1933 BuiltBuilt by the USFS; L-4 cab on a wooden towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1934 EventPanorama photographs taken June 20, 1934 by James RittenhouseSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1941 StaffedStaffed for 79 days; reports through the Zig Zag Ranger Station; communication by Pacific Telephone and TelegraphSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1949 RemovedForest Lookouts says removed c.1949; the register and firelookout say gone by 1950Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1957 EventZigzag District historical report of 1957, quoted in a Forest Lookouts entry dated February 26, 1958, selected the lookout point as a potential heliportSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1957 and 2010
  7. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 17, 2010; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  8. 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.

The Big Bend lookout stood on Big Bend Mountain in Multnomah County, Oregon, within the Mount Hood National Forest, at about 4,017 feet.1,2

The Forest Service built it in 1933 as a wooden tower with an L-4 cab.1,2 The Forest Lookouts site records panorama photographs taken on June 20, 1934, by James Rittenhouse.3

In 1941 the lookout was staffed for 79 days. Its reports went to the Zig Zag Ranger Station, and communication was by Pacific Telephone and Telegraph.3

The sources disagree on when it came down. Forest Lookouts says it was removed around 1949, while the register and firelookout say it was gone by 1950.1,2,3 A 1957 Zigzag District historical report, quoted by Forest Lookouts in a February 1958 entry, named the lookout point as a potential heliport.3

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether visitors can reach it.1,2,3

  1. Big Bend Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/big-bend-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Big Bend Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/bigbendmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Big Bend, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/big-bend.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Big Bend Lookout 1933 - 1950
Big Bend Lookout 1933 - 1950 (1933)Photo: Tim Roberts collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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: 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, 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.