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Fire lookout · Klamath County, Oregon

Mount Scott Lookout

A 1952 two-story L-4 lookout on Crater Lake's highest summit, no longer staffed and now used for USGS seismic equipment and emergencies.

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. Maintained for emergency use; houses USGS seismic monitoring equipment. The sources read do not say whether visitors may go inside the cab.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About 2.5 miles with many switchbacks, starting on Rim Drive and ending at the tower on the summit. Trailhead at 7,683 ft (Wikipedia).
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingTwo-story modified L-4, about 14 x 14 ft, with a fold-up catwalkThe designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1924
Height
14 ft (4.3 m)
Elevation
8,806 ft (2,684 m)
Agency
U.S. Dept. of the Interior; National Park Service is the cooperator (Crater Lake National Park)
Land
Federal land
Location
Klamath County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.92323, −122.01617
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-mount-scott

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 3.8 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. 1924 BuiltFirst structure, a cupola cabin. Register gives 1924; firelookout.com says about 1923; a history page places a three-way agreement in winter 1924/25Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  2. 1928 FireIn August 1928 the lookout reported seven fires on the reservation, one on the Crater National Forest and two on Association territorySource: willhiteweb.com
  3. 1929 BuiltMaterials delivered to build the lookout house; a lookout offered to build it and did much of the work by the end of the fire seasonSource: willhiteweb.com
  4. 1935 EventStill a cooperative lookout between Crater Lake National Park and the Klamath district of the Rogue River National ForestSource: willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1935 and 1952
  6. 1952 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  7. 1952 Replaced by a new structureCurrent two-story structure replaced the cupola, which had become too loose to plot fire locationsSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  8. No record between 1952 and 2002
  9. 2002 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, December 1, 2002Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2010 Condition assessmentSMS visited with the Park historian to assess the building; no time was left for work.Source: sandmountain.org
  11. 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 Scott is the highest point in Crater Lake National Park.1 The first summit lookout was a cupola cabin from the 1920s, and the sources do not agree on the exact year.2,3,4 Firelookout.com says about 1923, and the register says 1924.3,4 A history page that draws on park files says a three-way agreement to build a lookout was made in the winter of 1924/25, and that materials for the lookout house were being delivered in 1929.5

The lookout was still a shared post in the 1930s. In 1935 it was a cooperative lookout between the park and the Klamath district of the Rogue River National Forest.5 The same history page records that in August 1928 the lookout reported seven fires on the reservation, one on the Crater National Forest, and two on Association territory.5

In its final 15 years the cupola was so loose that a fire's location could not be plotted on a windy day, the register says.4 The cupola gave way in 1952 to the present two-story structure, a modified L-4 with a fold-up catwalk.4,2

That 1952 lookout is no longer staffed, and it now holds USGS seismic monitoring gear.2 Firelookout.com describes the present NPS cab as available for emergencies.3 The register says it is now kept up for emergency use.4

The summit trail starts on Rim Drive and runs about 2.5 miles, with many switchbacks, to the tower.1 The sources I read do not say whether visitors may go inside the cab, so check with Crater Lake National Park before you plan a trip.

  1. Mount Scott (Klamath County, Oregon), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Scott_(Klamath_County,_Oregon) (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mt. Scott, Every Lookout in Oregon, Cheryl Hill blog, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2024/09/28/mt-scott/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Mt. Scott Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/mtscott.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Mount Scott Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/mount-scott-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Mount Scott Lookout History, Willhite Web, https://willhiteweb.com/crater_lake_national_park/mount_scott_lookout/history_102.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Scott Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Mt. Scott cupola cabin
Mt. Scott cupola cabinPhoto: the Howard Verschoor collection, the Fire Lookout Museum and Mike Scroggs & Connie Graham, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Scott in 1980
Mt. Scott in 1980 (1980)Photo: the Howard Verschoor collection, the Fire Lookout Museum and Mike Scroggs & Connie Graham, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Scott L.O.
Mt. Scott L.OPhoto: the Howard Verschoor collection, the Fire Lookout Museum and Mike Scroggs & Connie Graham, 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.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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: ownership, 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. Sand Mountain Society Gave us: dates, links Sand Mountain Society (sandmountain.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, dimensions, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the Sand Mountain Society page it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR and FFLOS records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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

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