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Fire lookout · Hood River County, Oregon

Mount Defiance Lookout Site

Mt. Hood NF summit lookout: crow's nest 1925, 40-ft L-4 tower 1934, windstorm 1959, R-6 tower 1962, gone by 1971; a hiking blog reports summit communication buildings.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Last tower gone by 1971 (removed or burned, sources differ); a hiking blog reports communication buildings still stand on the summit

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Hiking trail from Starvation Creek Trailhead; northern and western flanks lie in the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About 6 miles from Starvation Creek Trailhead, gaining 5,000 feet; the trail had recently reopened after the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 (40-foot pole tower, 1934); the final 1962 tower was a 41-foot R-6 flat-cabThe designs: L-4, R-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1925
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
4,960 ft (1,512 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Hood River County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.64866, −121.72264
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-mount-defiance

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 3.3 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. 1923 EventRanger E.N. Wheeler of Cascade Locks established a lookout station (January 1924 item); conflicts with the 1925 date for the first crow's nestSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1925 BuiltTree crow's nest and tentSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, theroamingcivic.com
  3. 1928 StaffedHoneymooning couple planned to spend the summer at the lookout, the groom serving as lookout until SeptemberSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1934 Replaced by a new structure40-foot pole tower with L-4 cab replaced the crow's nestSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1934 and 1952
  6. 1952 RebuiltLookout house and tower replaced in May 1952; a historical note says the work was completed in JuneSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1959 DestroyedSeptember windstorm; firetower.org, firelookout.com and the blog say the tower was destroyed; the Oregon lookouts history says it was severely damagedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1960 EventFebruary 4, 1960 entry in the Oregon lookouts history says a new cabin would be constructed on the 40-foot tower before the 1960 seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1962 Replaced by a new structure41-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab builtSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1964 ClosedLookout station deactivatedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1971 BurnedOregon lookouts history says the tower was burned during the winter monthsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. 1971 RemovedTower gone or removed by 1971 per firetower.org, firelookout.com and the blogSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, theroamingcivic.com
  13. No record between 1971 and 2010
  14. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: August 17, 2010Source: FFLOS register entry
  15. 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.

Mount Defiance is a peak near the Columbia River Gorge, and it carried a fire lookout from the mid-1920s until about 1971.1,2

The first lookout was a tree crow's nest with a tent, which firetower.org and firelookout.com date to about 1925.2,3,4 A January 1924 item gives an earlier start, saying a ranger established a lookout station there during 1923.5

In June 1928 a young couple planned to spend their honeymoon at the summit, with the groom serving as lookout until September.5 In 1934 a 40-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab replaced the crow's nest.2,3,5

The Forest Service began replacing the lookout house and tower in May 1952, and a later historical note says the work was completed in June.5

Sources disagree about the 1959 windstorm. Three say the tower was destroyed, while the Oregon lookouts history says it was severely damaged.2,3,4,5 A February 1960 entry in that history said a new cabin would sit on the 40-foot tower ahead of the 1960 season.5

A 41-foot timber tower with a flat-top R-6 cab replaced it in 1962.2,3,5 The station was deactivated in 1964.5

Three sources say the last tower was gone by 1971, while the Oregon lookouts history says it was burned that winter.2,3,4,5

Today a hiking blog reports that the summit still has communication buildings, and the writer thinks foundation remnants can be found by looking.4 Climbing the route means gaining about 5,000 feet across six miles, starting at the Starvation Creek Trailhead.1 The north and west slopes fall within the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness.1 The route had only recently reopened following the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire.4

  1. Mount Defiance (Oregon), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Defiance_(Oregon) (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Mount Defiance Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/mount-defiance-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Mount Defiance Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/defiance.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. 3 Popular Hikes That Are Former Fire Lookout Sites, The Roaming Civic, https://theroamingcivic.com/2022/05/23/3-popular-hikes-that-are-former-fire-lookout-sites/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Mount Defiance, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/mount-defiance.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Defiance Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tower in 1955
Tower in 1955 (1955)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: design, 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, 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

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