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Fire lookout · Lake County, Oregon

Lookout Rock Lookout

Built as a 1932 L-4 on a crow's-nest site, replaced by a 1962 R-6 cab, unstaffed by the late 1960s, and it survived the 2021 Bootleg Fire.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. No closure notice in the sources. A July 2024 visitor found the road to the trailhead open. The tower is not staffed or rented, and no source says the public may climb it.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
From the Lookout Rock Trailhead at the end of Road 012, follow the old road up through burned timber. Some class 2 scrambling is needed to reach the base of the rock.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 flattop cab (14 x 14 ft) on a 20 ft timber towerThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
6,419 ft (1,957 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lake County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.46253, −120.80122
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-lookout-rock

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. 1931 EventA newspaper item said a fireman from the Finley corrals would be placed on lookout duty at this site.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 BuiltA 20 ft wooden tower with an L-4 cab replaced the earlier crow's-nest tree platform.Sources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1946 StaffedA July 18, 1947 item says Kenneth Carlson had been the forest lookout the previous summer, and the district still wanted a lookout for the post.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1959 Condition assessmentA regional engineering inspection recommended replacing the tower and house as soon as financing could be arranged.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1962 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  6. 1962 Replaced by a new structureThe 1932 L-4 was replaced by the present 14 x 14 ft R-6 flattop on a 20 ft timber tower.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  7. 1968 Last staffedThe NHLR says the lookout was placed on standby status in 1968. A 2024 visitor account says it was no longer regularly staffed by the end of the 1960s.Sources: nhlr.org, cherylhill.net
  8. No record between 1968 and 2000
  9. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to the National Historic Lookout Register on March 1, 2000.Source: nhlr.org
  10. No record between 2000 and 2021
  11. 2021 FireThe Bootleg Fire burned through the area. The tower survived, with some timber beams scorched.Source: cherylhill.net
  12. 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.

Lookout Rock sits on top of a large rock in the Fremont National Forest, about 13 miles northeast of Bly in Lake County, Oregon.1,2 Before any tower went up, a tree with a crow's nest stood near the spot.3

A 1931 newspaper item, as transcribed by one history site, said a fireman from the Finley corrals would be posted there.3 The first tower was a 20-foot wooden structure with an L-4 cab, put up in 1932.1 A 1959 inspection credits a CCC project with building it.3 A 1932 Bend Bulletin item, however, gives the legs as sixteen feet high, so the sources do not quite agree on the height.3,1

The present cab is a 14-by-14-foot R-6 flattop, built in 1962 on a 20-foot timber tower.1,2 The 1959 inspection had recommended replacing the old tower and house.3 A 2024 visitor reported that materials were trucked to the base and hauled up by a high line.4

A 1947 notice named Kenneth Carlson as the lookout the summer before, and the district still needed a capable person with a vehicle for the post.3 By the end of the 1960s the tower was no longer regularly staffed.4 The Register says the tower went on standby in 1968.1 It added the lookout to the National Historic Lookout Register on March 1, 2000.1

The 2021 Bootleg Fire burned through the area. The tower survived, though its timber beams were scorched in several spots.4

Today the sources do not agree on its status. A regional directory lists it as standing.5 A 2024 visitor labeled it abandoned, called its future uncertain, and said it needs a lot of work.4 Another site notes that it has not been used for many years and may one day join the rental program.2 That visitor found the road to the trailhead open, and some class 2 scrambling is needed to reach the base of the rock.4 Nothing we read says the public may climb the tower, so check with the Bly Ranger District before planning a visit.1

  1. Lookout Rock Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/lookout-rock-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Lookout Rock Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/lookoutrock.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Lookout Rock - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/lookout-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Lookout Rock - Every Lookout in Oregon, cherylhill.net, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2024/07/04/lookout-rock/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Lookout directory, Oregon, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/or/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Lookout Rock Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout Rock L.O.
Lookout Rock L.OPhoto: Howard Verschoor, via firelookout.com · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1962
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1920
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1962

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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: 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, 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. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: 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, height, 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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