FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Clackamas County, Oregon

Devils Peak Lookout

Devils Peak's L-4 cab on a 10-ft timber tower is dated 1952 by the NHLR (1933 per firelookout.com); it is no longer staffed, open to the public, and its access trail is listed as closed.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Mountaineers and firelookout.com (undated) say it is open for public use; overnight stays are first-come, first-served. The access trail is listed as temporarily closed on the Forest Service trail page (undated copy), and the Sept 16, 2026 fire closure boundary text does not name the trail. Current access is unverified.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Cool Creek Trail No. 794 from Cool Creek Trailhead on Still Creek Road (FR 2612); about 8 miles round trip with 3,200 ft of gain. Trail page (undated copy): temporarily closed to public access for landslide and December storm damage.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab with catwalk on a 10-ft treated timber tower (NHLR: 1952); firelookout.com describes an 8-ft wooden L-4 cab from 1933The designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Wood
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
4,953 ft (1,510 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Clackamas County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.26428, −121.87562
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-devils-peak

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 4.1 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. 1924 Built12x12 ft log cabin with cupola, the first structure at the siteSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1933 Replaced by a new structureL-4 ground cab replaced the cupola cabin (NHLR); firelookout.com says the present 8-ft wooden L-4 cab was installed in 1933Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  3. No record between 1933 and 1952
  4. 1952 BuiltNHLR says the current L-4 cab with catwalk on a 10-ft treated timber tower was constructed in 1952. Firelookout.com calls the 1933 cab the present one.Source: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1952 and 2003
  6. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered with the National Historic Lookout Register on August 13, 2003Source: nhlr.org
  7. 2014 EventNHLR visit report (Aug 18, 2014): needs paint; some lower exterior boards need replacing; catwalk railing a bit loose; not staffedSource: 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.

Devils Peak is in Clackamas County, on the Mount Hood National Forest, and the Forest Service administers the lookout.1 The first structure was a 12-by-12-foot log cabin with a cupola, built in 1924.1,2 In 1933 an L-4 cab replaced it.1,2

The register dates the present cab, an L-4 with a catwalk on a 10-foot treated timber tower, to 1952.1 Firelookout.com instead calls the 1933 cab the present one, so the two sources disagree about when the current cab was built.2

Firelookout.com reports that nobody has staffed the lookout in many years.2 The register's 2014 visit report also marks it as not staffed.1 Mountaineers says it is now decommissioned, and that volunteers maintain it.3 We found no record of a fire at the lookout in the sources we read.1,2,3

The register recorded the tower on August 13, 2003.1 Its 2014 visit report said the tower needed paint, that some lower exterior boards needed replacing, and that the catwalk railing was a little loose in places.1

Mountaineers says the lookout is open for public use. It can be used overnight on a first-come, first-served basis, with a wood stove, cots and shelving.3 Firelookout.com also says it is presently open to public use, though that page is undated.2

The usual route is the Cool Creek Trail No. 794, about eight miles round trip with 3,200 feet of climbing, which starts on Still Creek Road.3 The Forest Service trail page, which is undated in our copy, says the trail is temporarily shut to the public, citing landslides and storm damage from December.4 A fire closure order for Clackamas River Ranger District lands was updated on September 16, 2026, and it runs until December 31, 2026, unless it is updated or rescinded first.5 Its boundary text does not name this trail, and we could not confirm whether it reaches this peak.5 Check with the Mount Hood National Forest before you go, and do not use a trail that is closed.

  1. Devils Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/devils-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Devils Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/devilspeak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Devil's Peak Lookout, The Mountaineers, https://www.mountaineers.org/activities/routes-places/devils-peak-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Cool Creek Trail 794, U.S. Forest Service, Mt. Hood National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/mthood/recreation/trails/cool-creek-trail-794 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Clackamas River RD Fires, U.S. Forest Service, Mt. Hood National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/mthood/alerts/clackamas-river-rd-fires (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

South side of Devils Peak Lookout (August 2014
South side of Devils Peak Lookout (August 2014 (2014)Photo: Kathleen Ward, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Devils Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Devils Peak in 1963
Devils Peak in 1963 (1963)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Dominic Luebbers, and Ron Kemnow, via firelookout.com · source
Devils Peak L.O.
Devils Peak L.OPhoto: the U.S. Forest Service, Dominic Luebbers, and Ron Kemnow, via firelookout.com · source
Devils Peak in 2011
Devils Peak in 2011 (2011)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Dominic Luebbers, and Ron Kemnow, 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: 1924
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1949

    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, what it is built of, 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: 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.