FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Cougar Pass Lookout

1935 Coos Fire Patrol lookout in the Elliott State Forest; present 50-ft tower dates from 1966; last active 1985; standing but unsafe, unstaffed.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. No official open or closed notice found. The Education Center calls the tower unsafe for visitors, and the access road had no gate in 2024.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Park at the bottom of the access road and walk. A 2022 visitor found fallen trees and snow on the road. The tower is described as unsafe; do not climb it.
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 2024-06-16)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower50-foot treated timber tower with live-in cab (present); first structure a 30-foot L-4 wooden towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1935
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
1,750 ft (533 m)
Agency
Oregon Department of Forestry/Coos FPA per NHLR; Education Center says Department of State Lands manages it for the Common School Fund
Land
Unknown
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.59705, −123.87102
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-cougar-pass

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 3.6 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. 1935 BuiltCoos Bay Times, December 1935: new 40-foot tower completed; ORWW gives 1935; NHLR gives 1936 for its first structureSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org, orww.org
  2. 1936 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  3. 1940 StaffedMarshfield man assigned to the post for the rest of the summer, per Coos Bay Times itemSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1945 StaffedNew watcher from Coos Bay stationed at the lookout, her first fire patrol jobSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1945 and 1966
  6. 1966 Replaced by a new structureNew 50-foot CT3 tower with 14 by 14 foot cab replaced the old tower, per Coos district annual reportSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, cherylhill.net
  7. No record between 1966 and 1985
  8. 1985 Last staffedORWW says active through 1985; Education Center says not used since 1985Sources: orww.org, sites.google.com
  9. No record between 1985 and 2013
  10. 2013 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 3, 2013 as US 952, OR 124Source: nhlr.org
  11. 2020 EventCougar Pass Lookout Education Center proposal to rebuild the tower as a lookout education centerSource: sites.google.com
  12. 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.

Cougar Pass sits in the Coast Range above Loon Lake, inside the Elliott State Forest, about ten road miles west of Scottsburg.1,2 In December 1935 the Coos Bay Times reported that a new 40-foot tower had been completed there.3 The district had been blind to its nearest station, Dean Mountain, because of a high mountain ridge.3 The National Historic Lookout Register gives 1936 as the build year for a 30-foot L-4 wooden tower, so the two accounts do not quite agree.3,4

The tower that stands today came later.4 A 1966 Coos district annual report records a new 50-foot CT3 tower with a 14-by-14 cab that replaced the old one.3,2 The register describes the present 50-foot timber tower with a live-in cab.4

The Coos Fire Patrol staffed the post in the fire season.3 A 1940 notice said a Marshfield man had been assigned to it for the rest of that summer, and a 1945 notice announced a new watcher from Coos Bay.3

An Elliott State Forest report says the lookout helped spot and report at least three large fires during its working years, but the part I read does not name them.5

The same report says the tower was active through 1985 and was the last active lookout on the Elliott.5 The Education Center's website says it has not been used since 1985.1 The register listed it in January 2013.4 Its cab is now home only to packrats, according to the register.4

The Cougar Pass Lookout Education Center calls the tower dilapidated, and wants to rebuild it as an education center.1 When a lookout-history writer visited on June 16, 2024, the status was listed as abandoned, and the chicken wire that once kept people off the base had been mostly torn down.2

At the bottom of the access road in 2024 there was neither a berm nor a gate.2 A 2022 visitor found that the road is state forest road 7700 and noted that only a pole from an old gate remains.6

Sources also disagree on who looks after the site. The register lists the Oregon Department of Forestry/Coos FPA as administrator.4 The Education Center says the Department of State Lands manages it for the Oregon Common School Fund.1

I found no official notice about visiting. The Education Center calls the tower unsafe for visitors, so do not climb it.1

  1. Cougar Pass Lookout Education Center, Cougar Pass Lookout Education Center (sites.google.com), https://sites.google.com/view/cougarpass/home (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Cougar Pass - Every Lookout in Oregon, Cheryl Hill (cherylhill.net), https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2024/06/16/cougar-pass/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Cougar Pass - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/cougar-pass.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Cougar Pass Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/cougar-pass-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Part 5. Cougar Pass Lookout and Elliott Roads & Trails, 1970-2020, Ethan Howard, Kevin Ballard and Evan Johnson, ORWW Elliott State Forest 2020 SWOCC report (orww.org), http://www.orww.org/Elliott_Forest/Recreation/2020_Roads/Reports/5_Cougar_Pass_1970-2020.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Cougar Pass L.O., The Roaming Civic, https://theroamingcivic.com/2022/01/01/cougar-pass-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Cougar Pass Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cougar Pass L.O.
Cougar Pass L.OPhoto: Howard Verschoor, 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.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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: 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: 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, height, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.