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Fire lookout · Wallowa County, Oregon

Buckhorn Mountain Lookout

Also known as Buckhorn

An L-4 ground cab moved from the Fairchild Point tower in 1952; unstaffed since the 1970s, now a roadside overlook with a view of the Imnaha River in Wallowa County.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Roadside overlook on National Forest land, reached by road. The 2022 register visit found the door open, shutters missing and glass on the floor. A 2023 visit found the lookout and garage still standing but slowly crumbling.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabStandard US Forest Service L-4 ground cabin and catwalk on short stone aggregate piers; cab moved from the Fairchild Point towerThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,341 ft (1,628 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Wallowa County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.75381, −116.82293
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-buckhorn-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 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. 1952 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  2. 1952 MovedCab lowered from the Fairchild Point tower and moved to this site as the new lookout for the Chesnimus District; original construction date unknownSources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1952 and 1971
  4. 1971 Last staffedLast year on firelookout.com's list of known lookout personnel; the page says the cab was last staffed in the 1970sSource: firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1971 and 2022
  6. 2022 Condition assessmentRegister visit report (October 1, 2022): needs paint, shutters missing, door open, glass on floor, number of broken windows unknownSource: nhlr.org
  7. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 22, 2022 as US 1609, OR 136; nominated by Brad EellsSource: 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.

Buckhorn Mountain Lookout is an L-4 ground cabin on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in Wallowa County, Oregon, at about 5,300 feet.1,2,3 The cab was not built on this spot.1 In the fall of 1952 it was lowered from the tower at Fairchild Point and moved here as the new lookout for that end of the Chesnimus District, according to a 1954 history of the forest as quoted by Forest Lookouts.4,5 The register gives the date as "Relocated 1952" and says the original construction date is unknown.1

The cab sits just below the summit, on the southeast side of the ridge.2 It rests on short stone piers and has a catwalk.1

A list of known lookout personnel on firelookout.com runs from 1955 to 1971, and the page says the cab was last staffed in the 1970s.2 A 2023 visit described on Every Lookout in Oregon says it has not been staffed since then.3 No fire at the site appears in the sources reviewed.1,2,4,3

The register's 2022 visit report found the door open, the shutters missing, and glass on the floor, and could not say how many windows were broken.1 Every Lookout in Oregon lists its status as abandoned.3 No source reviewed describes a restoration or a rental.1,2,4,3

The site is now called Buckhorn Overlook. It is a tourist stop with a view of the Imnaha River, reached by road, with a parking area at the overlook.3 The same 2023 account says it could find no information that the point is officially called Buckhorn Mountain.3 That visit found the lookout and its garage still standing, but slowly crumbling.3

  1. Buckhorn Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/buckhorn-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Buckhorn Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/buckhorn104.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Buckhorn Lookout, Every Lookout in Oregon (cherylhill.net), https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2023/07/17/buckhorn-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Buckhorn Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/buckhorn-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Fairchild Point - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/fairchild-point.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Buckhorn Mountain Lookout
Buckhorn Mountain LookoutPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Buckhorn Mtn. in 1952
Buckhorn Mtn. in 1952 (1952)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Buckhorn Mtn. in 2000
Buckhorn Mtn. in 2000 (2000)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Buckhorn Mtn. in 2008
Buckhorn Mtn. in 2008 (2008)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service and Rex Kamstra, 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.

    • NHLR: 1952
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1952
    • 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, 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, 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. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: register numbers, 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, 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.