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Fire lookout · Deschutes County, Oregon

Green Ridge Lookout

A 1961 R-6 side-hill lookout in the Deschutes National Forest that replaced a 1933-34 L-5 cabin and is still staffed by volunteers and rented off-season.

Visit & stay

You can rent this lookout for overnight stays through recreation.gov.

Season
early May - June and mid September - mid November

Overview Green Ridge Lookout is perched on a ridge more than 2,000 feet above the Metolius River. It offers guests a unique lodging experience in Deschutes National Forest. The lookout, a 20-foot tall fire lookout with unmatched views of Mt. Jefferson and the Metolius River basin, was built in the 1960s. Green Ridge Lookout is available for rent early May - June and mid September - mid November. During the summer months, the lookout is staffed with Forest Service volunteers who help with forest fire detection. Recreation Fishing and hiking top the list of recreational activities in the area. For anglers, the Metolius River offers a stunning setting for fly-fishing. Its clear, cold waters support rainbow trout, whitefish, bull trout and kokanee salmon. For day hikers and backpackers, the area offers a wide variety of scenic terrain, ranging from riverside trails to routes through subalpine forests. Several pleasant day hikes are found along the Metolius River and to the top of Black Butte. Lake Billy Chinook, approximately ten miles away, offers boating and fishing opportunities. Facilities The R6 style cab sits on a two-story tower hugging the side of Green Ridge. From the parking area, there is a short boardwalk to the lower 20x20-ft. wooden deck. A one story flight of steps leads to the catwalk of the upper deck surrounding the cabin. The one-room cabin is furnished with a futon, a table and two chairs. It is also equipped with a propane refrigerator, an overhead light, a propane wall heater, a four-burner propane stove and oven. Guests must bring several of their own amenities, including food, water, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, towels, cookware, dish soap, matches, toilet paper and garbage bags. There is no water available at the site. Guests must bring water for drinking, cooking and washing. Although lighting is available, bringing an additional light source is recommended. Natural Features Guests to Green Ridge Lookout are treated to views of snow-capped mountain peaks and dense forests of Douglas-fir, cedar and Ponderosa pine that stretch out to the horizon. Mount Jefferson, the most prominent peak in view, is a stratovolcano that reaches an elevation of 10,497 feet, the second highest mountain in Oregon. The scenic Metolius River flows through the basin beneath the tower lookout. The headwaters of the river are at Metolius Springs at the base of nearby Black Butte, a 6,436 ft. cinder cone. The clear, cold river flows north from the springs through diverse coniferous forest and a landscape of volcanic activity. Nearby Attractions

Book on recreation.gov

Rental details from recreation.gov, checked 12 Oct 2026. Rules, fees and seasons change, so confirm on the booking page before you go. Data source: ridb.recreation.gov

Access

Open to the public. rented off-season via Recreation.gov; staffed by volunteers in fire season

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
reached via Forest Roads 11/1150/1154/1140 and a spur road from Sisters; early/late season may need high-clearance 4WD
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 flattop cab with catwalk on 21-foot treated timber towerThe designs: R-6, L-5
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
4,659 ft (1,420 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service - Deschutes National Forest, Sisters Ranger District
Land
Federal land
Location
Deschutes County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.53381, −121.60864
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 12 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-green-ridge

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1934 Builtfirst lookout, a Standard L-5 10x10 cabin classified as an emergency station, finished per NHLR ('1934'); firelookout.com dates this earlier structure to 'about 1933'Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1961
  3. 1961 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  4. 1961 Replaced by a new structurecurrent 15x15 R-6 flattop with catwalk built on a 21-foot timber tower, a quarter mile northwest of the ridgetopSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1961 and 1998
  6. 1998 Added to the National Historic Lookout Registerregistered December 1, 1998 as US 287, nominated by Marilyn AndersonSource: nhlr.org
  7. 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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Green Ridge Lookout looks out over the Metolius River drainage toward Mount Jefferson from a "side hill" perch in the Deschutes National Forest in central Oregon — a lookout site set partway down a ridge rather than on a summit.1,2 The first structure there was a Standard L-5 cabin, a modest 10-by-10-foot design, finished around 1933 or 1934 and classified as an emergency station roughly 500 feet below where the current tower stands.1,2

That first cabin served through the Depression and war years, but by the early 1960s the Forest Service replaced it with something larger and more durable. In 1961, crews built a 15-by-15-foot R-6 flattop cab with a wraparound catwalk atop a 21-foot treated timber tower, a quarter mile northwest of the ridgetop.1,2 That is the structure still in use today.

Green Ridge has continued to serve its original purpose. The Forest Service's Sisters Ranger District cooperates in running it, and in the fire season it's staffed by volunteers who help spot smoke across the Metolius basin.1,3 Green Ridge was added to the National Historic Lookout Register on December 1, 1998, as US 287, nominated by Marilyn Anderson.1

Outside of fire season, the Forest Service rents the cabin to the public through Recreation.gov, typically in two windows — early May through June, and mid-September through mid-November, when volunteer staffing has wound down.3 Getting there involves a drive up a series of forest roads from Sisters, and the one-room cabin comes furnished with a futon and a small propane kitchen setup, though guests still need to bring their own water, since none is available on site.3 Early and late-season visitors should expect the access roads to need high-clearance or four-wheel-drive vehicles, and an opening can be delayed if snow blocks the route.3

No source consulted recorded any fire, storm damage, or major incident at Green Ridge comparable to what some other lookouts have endured — its history, as documented, is one of steady use rather than destruction and rebuilding.

  1. Green Ridge Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/green-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Green Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/greenridge.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Green Ridge Lookout, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234477 (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Green Ridge Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Green Ridge L.O.
Green Ridge L.OPhoto: Dominic Luebbers, via firelookout.com · source

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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. Recreation Information Database (recreation.gov) Gave us: ownership, access, rental details, links Data source: ridb.recreation.gov · Public data from the US government · retrieved 12 Oct 2026
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association: lookout rentals Gave us: rental details, links Forest Fire Lookout Association rentals list (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only (state, name, booking link, manager, closure note), no prose copied. The FFLA says it is not involved in managing any rental program. · retrieved 12 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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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