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Fire lookout · Hood River County, Oregon

Chinidere Mountain Lookout Site

Hood River County summit lookout site: 1929 platform, 1934 L-4 cab, gone by the 1940s. Only broken glass and cable remain; the summit is reached on foot from Wahtum Lake.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Gone by the 1940s; only bits of broken glass and cable remain on the summit

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Summit reached on foot from the Wahtum Lake Trailhead by a short hike, per the Oregon Hikers guide

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About 1.5 miles from the Wahtum Lake Trailhead to the summit

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabFirefinder platform with tent and phone (1929); L-4 cab added 1934The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1929
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,674 ft (1,425 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Mount Hood National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Hood River County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.58625, −121.81178
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-chinidere-mountain

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 3.4 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. 1929 BuiltErected as a firefinder platform with tent and phoneSource: firetower.org
  2. 1934 FireLookout Ed Mohr found an unextinguished campfire on patrol around Wahtum Lake; six Portland boys fined at Hood RiverSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1934 AlteredL-4 cab addedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  4. 1935 StaffedHarold Gustafson, a forestry student, announced as the coming lookout once supplies could be packed inSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1943 EventActivated July 1 to September 14, 1943, under the Portland Filter Center (per the Forest Lookouts page)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1943 and 2010
  7. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 17, 2010 as US 582, OR 23; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  8. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Chinidere Mountain is a summit in Hood River County, Oregon, within the Mount Hood National Forest.1,2 A fire lookout was erected there in 1929, and it was gone by the 1940s.1,2

The register describes the first setup as a firefinder platform with a tent and phone.1 A July 1930 photo note on the Forest Lookouts page calls the site undeveloped, which sits uneasily with the 1929 date.3 An L-4 cab was added in 1934.2

In 1934 Ed Mohr, a lookout, came across an unextinguished campfire on patrol near Wahtum Lake, and the youths responsible were traced back to Eagle Creek camp.3 Six Portland boys were fined at Hood River for leaving the fire unextinguished on national forest land.3 In June 1935 the Bonneville Dam Chronicle reported that Harold Gustafson, a forestry student, would be the lookout as soon as pack horses could bring his supplies in, since the snow was still too deep for trucks.3 The Forest Lookouts page also notes that the site was activated from July 1 to September 14, 1943, under the Portland Filter Center.3

The register says the lookout had disappeared by the 1940s, and firelookout.com gives the same decade.1,2 The Forest Lookouts page only marks it as removed.3

Today the summit has no lookout left.4 Oregon Hikers reports that the only traces left are scraps of broken glass and pieces of cable.4 Hikers have put up several windbreaks from the shale on the east slope, and a USGS benchmark sits at the summit.4

The guide describes a hike from the Wahtum Lake Trailhead: drive forest roads to the trailhead, then walk about 1.5 miles to the top, where a 360-degree view opens up.4

  1. Chinidere Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/chinidere-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Chinidere Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/chinideremtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Chinidere Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/chinidere-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Chinidere Mountain, Oregon Hikers field guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Chinidere_Mountain (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Chinidere Mountain Lookout 1934
Chinidere Mountain Lookout 1934 (1934)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Chinidere Mountain Lookout camp 1929 - 1934
Chinidere Mountain Lookout camp 1929 - 1934 (1929)Photo: Rex Kamstra collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Chinidere Mountain Lookout site
Chinidere Mountain Lookout sitePhoto: Michelle Herold, Howard Verschoor collection, via 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: 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, 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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