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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Garwood Butte Lookout

A 1942 L-4 cab on Garwood Butte, renamed in 1946, went unstaffed after 1973 and is now in poor condition at the end of a steep trail.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Reached by the Garwood Butte Trail from Three Lakes Road (Road 3703) and Forest Service Road 3703-370. The Forest Service warns the structure is in poor condition.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Steep, rocky trail with narrow switchbacks; footing is difficult on the last few feet of the climb.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab, an updated BC-301 versionThe designs: L-4, BC-301
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1942
Height
32 ft (9.8 m)
Elevation
6,970 ft (2,125 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.14507, −122.28194
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-garwood-butte

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. 1942 BuiltL-4 cab, an updated BC-301 version, built on the summit then called Bear Butte.Sources: nhlr.org, fs.usda.gov
  2. 1946 EventButte and lookout renamed for Leroy E. Garwood (firelookout.com and Oregon Hikers both give 1946).Sources: firelookout.com, oregonhikers.org
  3. No record between 1946 and 1973
  4. 1973 Last staffedNo longer staffed after 1973, per the register. Firelookout.com says abandoned since the 1960s.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1973 and 2012
  6. 2012 EventFirefighters covered the whole cabin in Structure Protection Wrap.Source: fs.usda.gov
  7. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to the National Historic Lookout Register, June 23, 2022.Source: 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.

Garwood Butte was once called Bear Butte, and a lookout cab went up on its summit in 1942.1,2 The register describes the cab as a newer BC-301 variant of the familiar L-4 design.1

The butte and lookout were later renamed for Leroy E. Garwood.2 Firelookout.com and the Oregon Hikers field guide both date the renaming to 1946.3,4 The sources describe his job differently: a former Umpqua National Forest employee, an administrative officer of that forest, or a former Diamond Lake district ranger who died in 1944.3,4,2

The register says the lookout stopped being staffed after 1973.1 Firelookout.com describes it as abandoned since the 1960s, and the field guide notes it has sat unstaffed for many years.3,4

The Forest Service says the structure is in poor shape, and in 2012 firefighters wrapped the whole cabin in protective material.2 Firelookout.com says work to restore it has continued in recent years.3 The field guide says restoration has halted, pointing to an old rehab sign that names a Forest Service employee who has since retired.4

The Forest Service directions run up Three Lakes Road (Road 3703) to Forest Service Road 3703-370, and the Garwood Butte Trailhead is 1.5 miles on the right.2 The climb starts gently, then turns steep and rocky, with narrow switchbacks, and the final few feet are hard going underfoot.2 Visitors should take care near the cabin.2 The register lists the lookout as registered on June 23, 2022.1

  1. Garwood Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/garwood-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Garwood Butte Trail, U.S. Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/umpqua/recreation/trails/garwood-butte-trail (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Garwood Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/garwood.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Garwood Butte, Oregon Hikers Field Guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Garwood_Butte (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Garwood Butte Lookout - 2005
Garwood Butte Lookout - 2005 (2005)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Garwood Butte L.O.
Garwood Butte L.OPhoto: Ryon Kershner and Dennis Lane, via firelookout.com · source
Garwood Butte in 2014
Garwood Butte in 2014 (2014)Photo: Ryon Kershner and Dennis Lane, 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, 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: height 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, 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.