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Fire lookout · Clackamas County, Oregon

Hiyu Mountain Lookout Site

Clackamas County, OR: 1929 20-ft tower, 1933 L-4 cab, removed by 1967; 2016 article says the summit road now serves radio antennas where the lookout stood, and the summit trail is closed.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. Forest Service has closed the summit trail, per a 2016 WyEast Blog article; no source reviewed says the summit road is open to the public

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Lookout structure removed by 1967; a 2016 article says the summit road now also gives access to radio antennas where it stood

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cab20-foot wooden tower with an open platform (1929), replaced by an L-4 cab (1933)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1929
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
4,653 ft (1,418 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Mount Hood National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Clackamas County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.43512, −121.80647
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-hiyu-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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.5 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 Built20-foot wooden tower with an open platform, constructed by the USFSSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, wyeastblog.org
  2. 1933 Replaced by a new structureL-4 cab replaced the original structureSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, wyeastblog.org
  3. 1934 EventForest Service employee fell about 20 feet from the tower; reported in October 1934 newspapersSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1936 StaffedJuly 1936 Sunday Oregonian: lookout was to be mannedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1936 and 1958
  6. 1958 EventHood River District historical report: lookout reactivated in August (report dated 1958)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1964 ClosedRex's page: the lookout deactivatedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1967 RemovedGone by 1967 per firetower.org and firelookout.com; WyEast Blog says removed by 1967Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, wyeastblog.org
  9. No record between 1967 and 2010
  10. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 25, 2010 as US 604, OR 45Source: firetower.org
  11. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

Hiyu Mountain rises 1,500 feet directly above Bull Run Lake, in Clackamas County, Oregon.1,2 In 1929 the Forest Service built a 20-foot wooden tower with an open platform on the summit.2,3,1 A roof was added later, and in 1933 an L-4 cab replaced the original structure.2,3,1 The new cab had enclosed living space for staff.1 When it was built, the site could only be reached by trail, and materials were brought in by packhorse.1

A July 1936 Sunday Oregonian item reported that the lookout was to be manned.4 In October 1934, Oregon newspapers reported that a Forest Service employee had fallen about 20 feet from the tower and been taken to a hospital.4 A 1958 Hood River District historical report, quoted on Rex's page, says the lookout was reactivated in August.4

The Forest Service started to wind down its lookout network in the early 1960s.1 Rex's page says this one was deactivated in 1964.4 The register and firelookout.com both say the tower was gone by 1967, and the WyEast Blog says the lookout structure was removed by then.2,3,1

A 2016 WyEast Blog article says the summit road, whose main use has been logging, also gives access to radio antennas where the old lookout building once stood.1 The same article says the Forest Service has since officially closed the trail to the summit, as part of a campaign with the City of Portland Water Bureau to deny any public access to the Bull Run Reserve.1 This story does not recommend hiking there.1 No source we read is more recent than that 2016 article, so conditions may have changed.

  1. A New Vision: Restoring Hiyu Mountain, WyEast Blog (July 2016 archive), https://wyeastblog.org/2016/07/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Hiyu Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/hiyu-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Hiyu Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/hiyumtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Hiyu Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/hiyu-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Hiyu Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Hiyu Mountain Lookout Site, 1930
(1930)Photo: Fire Lookout Museum, 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: 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, 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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