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Fire lookout · Clackamas County, Oregon

Lone Fir Lookout Site

Forest Service L-4 cab on a 20-foot pole tower above Timberline (1933), used in place of the summit lookout; burned in May 1963; a footprint remains.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Burned in May 1963 per The Oregonian, as quoted by Forest Lookouts; the register says removed in 1964; a hiking guide's photos show a footprint and captions note nails, glass, metal parts and anchors

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab on a 20-foot pole tower (1933); a stone supply cabin stood on the site from 1922The design: L-4
Built of
Stone
Built
1922
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
6,600 ft (2,012 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Clackamas County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.34072, −121.71248
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-lone-fir

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.

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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. 1922 BuiltStone cabin, primarily a supply cabin for the Mount Hood summit lookoutSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1933 BuiltL-4 cab on a 20-foot pole tower per the register; firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb also describe an L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1936 StaffedGeorge Harrington began duties at Lone Fir, used in place of the summit lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1948 StaffedOle Lien was the lookout at Lone Fir, per a Sandy Post item quoted by Forest LookoutsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1948 and 1963
  6. 1963 BurnedForest Service burned the lookout down in May 1963, per The Oregonian as quoted by Forest Lookouts and WillhiteWebSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  7. 1964 RemovedRegister says removed in 1964; firelookout.com says destroyed in 1964Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1964 and 2010
  9. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: August 26, 2010Source: firetower.org
  10. 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.

In 1922 a stone cabin went up on Mount Hood's south slope, chiefly as a storehouse for the summit lookout.1 In 1933 the Forest Service put up an L-4 cab on a 20-foot pole tower, about half a mile above Timberline Lodge at the midway offramp of a ski lift.1,2,3 An October 1933 item quoted by Forest Lookouts describes a lookout cabin and a shelter cabin under construction at the time.3

Afterward Lone Fir was the favored lookout on the mountain, and the summit station fell out of use.4 A 1936 item said the summit had gone unused for a few years because clouds often hid the valleys.3 George Harrington started his duties at Lone Fir that week.3 In 1948 Ole Lien was the lookout there, and he was among three Forest Service men cited for rescue work on Mount Hood.3

In May 1963 the Forest Service burned the lookout down, according to a report in The Oregonian that Forest Lookouts quotes.3,4 The paper said the station had gone unused lately and was in poor repair, and that a new Magic Mile chairlift ran directly over the building.3 The register gives 1964 as the removal year, and firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year. Those 1964 dates differ from the 1963 newspaper report.1,2

A hiking guide's photos show the footprint, and captions note nails, glass, metal parts and anchors still on the site.4 The guide places the site directly beneath the fifth pole of the Magic Mile lift, counted from the midway offramp.4 It also gives walking access: ride the Magic Mile up and hike down the road, or walk up the access road from Timberline Lodge.4 No source I found says whether the public may visit the site.

  1. Lone Fir Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/lone-fir-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Lone Fir Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/lonefir.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Lone Fir Rock, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/lone-fir-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Lone Fir Rock Lookout Site Mount Hood, WillhiteWeb.com, https://willhiteweb.com/oregon_lookouts/lone_fir_rock_lookout/mount_hood_029.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Lone Fir Lookout 1933 - 1964
Lone Fir Lookout 1933 - 1964 (1933)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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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