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Fire lookout · Wheeler County, Oregon

Mount Pisgah Lookout

A timber R-6 lookout on the Ochoco National Forest built in 1964 beside a site used since 1918 or 1919; the register and firelookout.com date the first platform differently.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Active staffed lookout. The sources read do not say whether visitors may go up into the cab. A 2011 visitor drove up by road.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Road 2630 is the access road. A 2011 visitor described it as rough and took 30 minutes to drive 6.2 miles.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower20-ft timber tower with a 14 x 14 ft flat-topped live-in R-6 cab and catwalkThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
6,800 ft (2,073 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Wheeler County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.45707, −120.23648
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-mount-pisgah

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.

Downloads about 3.4 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. 1918 BuiltFirst 10-ft platform on the summit. Firelookout.com and the 2011 blog give 1918; the register gives 1919Sources: firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  2. 1923 Replaced by a new structure35-ft platform with a cabin (open platform with ground cabin per the register)Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  3. 1929 AlteredCab built on the platformSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  4. 1933 Replaced by a new structure20-ft L-4 tower or cab; served 31 years until the present lookout was builtSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  5. No record between 1933 and 1964
  6. 1964 BuiltPresent 20-ft R-6 timber tower built right beside the old tower, which was then removedSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  7. No record between 1964 and 2003
  8. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout RegisterSource: nhlr.org
  9. 2008 BurnedPatrol point one mile north of the lookout burned in a 2008 forest fire; the lookout itself is not described as burnedSource: firelookout.com
  10. 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.

Mount Pisgah rises about eight miles southwest of Mitchell, in the Ochoco National Forest.1,2 The lookout on top is a 20-foot timber tower with a flat-topped R-6 cab and a catwalk, built in 1964.2,1 Counting this one, the Forest has built five towers on the summit.2

The sources disagree on when the first structure went up. Firelookout.com and a 2011 blog both give 1918 for a 10-foot platform, while the register gives 1919.1,3,2 The sources agree on what came after. A 35-foot platform with a cabin went up in 1923, a cab was added in 1929, and a 20-foot L-4 tower followed in 1933.2,1,3 The 1964 tower went up right next to the earlier one, which was then taken down.3

The old 1933 tower served for 31 years before the present lookout replaced it.2 Firelookout.com says the tower is staffed every summer, and the register says it is in active service.1,2 The 2011 blog also lists it as staffed.3 Firelookout.com notes that a 2008 forest fire burned a patrol point one mile north of the lookout.1

The only detailed access report I found is from 2011. That visitor drove up from the east and described Road 2630 as rough, taking 30 minutes to cover 6.2 miles.3 Road conditions may have changed since then. None of these pages says whether visitors may go up into the cab, so ask the Ochoco National Forest before you plan a trip.

  1. Mt. Pisgah Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/pisgah.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mount Pisgah Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/mount-pisgah-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Mt. Pisgah, Every Lookout in Oregon, Cheryl Hill blog, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2011/07/20/mt-pisgah/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Pisgah Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Mt. Pisgah L.O.
Mt. Pisgah L.OPhoto: Zeyn O'Leary and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Pisgah crow's nest
Mt. Pisgah crow's nestPhoto: Zeyn O'Leary and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · 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.

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: 1964
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1918
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1964

    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, staffing, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: register numbers, 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.