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Fire lookout · Hood River County, Oregon

Lookout Mountain Lookout Site (Hood River County)

Also known as Lookout Mountain

Hood River County lookout on Lookout Mountain near Mount Hood: established 1911, rebuilt with a 1940 L-4 tower, abandoned 1966 and since removed; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Abandoned in 1966 and since removed per the register; no removal date and no description of the site today

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
Cab on a tower10-foot treated timber L-4 tower (1940)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1911
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,525 ft (1,989 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Mt. Hood National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Hood River County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.34251, −121.52417
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-lookout-mountain-hood-river-county

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.7 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. 1911 BuiltLookout established with an alidade on the summit and a log cabin in a meadow belowSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1914 AlteredLog cabin built atop the peak with a 10-foot enclosed platformSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  3. 1922 StaffedA.E. Florer of Hood River reported for duty as lookout for the summer (Oregon Daily Journal, June 18, 1922)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1930 AlteredRegister: 10-foot platform; firelookout.com: 10-foot live-in towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  5. 1933 BuiltGarage constructed by a CCC crew from Friend CampSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1940 Replaced by a new structure10-foot treated timber L-4 tower replaced the earlier structureSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1940 and 1966
  8. 1966 AbandonedAbandoned; register says it has since been removed (removal date not given)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1966 and 2010
  10. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 26, 2010 as US 613, OR 54Source: 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.

Lookout Mountain stood in Hood River County, about nine miles east-northeast of Mount Hood, in the Mount Hood National Forest.1,2

A lookout was set up here in 1911, with an alidade (a sighting instrument) on the summit and a log cabin in a meadow below the top.3,2

In 1914 a log cabin went up on the peak, along with a 10-foot enclosed platform.3,1 The sources differ on what came next. The register says a 10-foot platform followed in 1930, while firelookout.com describes a 10-foot live-in tower.3,1 In 1940 a 10-foot treated timber L-4 tower replaced it.3,1

In June 1922 an Oregon Daily Journal item said A.E. Florer of Hood River had signed on as the summer lookout.2 In 1933 a CCC crew from Friend Camp built a garage at the site.2

The register dates abandonment to 1966 and says the structure was later removed.3 Firelookout.com gives its history as "R.I.P. 1914-1930; 1940-?", so it does not supply an end date for the later years.1

We found no source that describes what, if anything, is left on the mountain now, or whether the public can reach it.

  1. Lookout Mtn. (Mt. Hood N.F.) Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/lookoutmtnhood34.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Lookout Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/lookout-mountain5.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Lookout Mountain Lookout Site (Hood River County), Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/lookout-mountain-lookout-site-hood-river-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Lookout Mountain Lookout Site (Hood River County)
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Lookout Mountain Lookout Site (Hood River County), 1923
(1923)Photo: Fire Lookout Museum, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Circa 1920 photo from Louis Blehm (man on right in photo)
Circa 1920 photo from Louis Blehm (man on right in photo) (1920)Photo: Dennis Lynch, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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. 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: 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, 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.