FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Wallowa County, Oregon

Red Hill Lookout

Wallowa County site watched for fires since 1917; sources disagree on whether the 40-foot L-4 tower dates to 1947 or 1949. A public viewpoint sits beside it.

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. No source read gives a current climbing rule. The Forest Service lists a public viewpoint beside the tower, open 24 hours a day.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Reached by gravel Forest Roads from Enterprise; the Forest Service viewpoint is next to the tower.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab on a 40-foot open timber towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
5,020 ft (1,530 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Wallowa County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.78847, −117.10263
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-red-hill

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. 1917 EventFire detection begins at the site with a pole platform and a tentSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1922 EventLookout works from a large tree with spiked steps, climbing to a fork about 115 ft upSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1924 Replaced by a new structureNew 50-foot tower replaces the tree; Roaming Civic gives the 1924 tower as a pole tower with a 10x10 cabSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, theroamingcivic.com
  4. 1936 BuiltFirelookout.com: 26-foot pole tower with 10x10 cab; the register gives no date for its 10x10 cabSource: firelookout.com
  5. 1947 BuiltFirelookout.com's date for the present 40-foot L-4 tower; the register and Oregon Lookouts give 1949Source: firelookout.com
  6. 1949 BuiltCurrent 40-foot open timber tower with L-4 cab, per the register; Oregon Lookouts quotes a spring 1949 completion from Historical Sketches of the Wallowa National ForestSources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1949 and 1971
  8. 1971 StaffedLast name on firelookout.com's known-personnel list: Marian Cook; the list is not presented as completeSource: firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1971 and 2022
  10. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered July 18, 2022 as US 1679, OR 166Source: nhlr.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.

Red Hill is in Wallowa County, Oregon, inside the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, and people have watched for fires from the site since 1917.1 The earliest setup was a pole platform with a tent.2 By 1922 the lookout was working from a large tree with steps spiked to its trunk, and a climb to a fork near the top gave the view.3 A 1924 note describes a new 50-foot tower that replaced that tree as the lookout.3

The dates for the current tower are disputed. Firelookout.com credits a 26-foot pole tower with a 10-by-10 cab in 1936, and says the present 40-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 cab went up in 1947.2 The register gives 1949 for the 40-foot open timber tower with an L-4 cab that stands there now.1 A Forest Lookouts page for Oregon quotes a Wallowa National Forest history that dates the new tower's completion to the spring of 1949.3 The sources agree on the height and cab type, but not on the year.1,2

Firelookout.com lists known lookout personnel from R.K. Stubblefield in 1936 to Marian Cook in 1971.2 The page labels these as known lookout personnel.2

Firelookout.com now calls the tower abandoned.2 The register listed the site in July 2022 under US 1679, OR 166.1 A visitor in September 2022 found the tower still standing, with a cab that was not in the best shape but a fairly sturdy frame, and the first flight of stairs removed to keep people from climbing.4

Today the Forest Service lists a Red Hill Lookout Viewpoint beside the tower. It is open 24 hours a day and has minimal facilities.5 The directions start in Enterprise, run north on Highway 3, and then follow Forest Road 46 and other roads that the Forest Service says are mostly gravel.5 None of the sources read gives a current climbing rule, so treat the tower as something to view from the viewpoint, and check current access before you go.

  1. Red Hill Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/red-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Red Hill Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/redhill.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Red Hill - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (Oregon pages), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/red-hill1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Red Hill L.O., The Roaming Civic, https://theroamingcivic.com/2022/09/17/red-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Red Hill Lookout Viewpoint, USDA Forest Service Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/wallowa-whitman/recreation/red-hill-lookout-viewpoint (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Red Hill Lookout - 2008
Red Hill Lookout - 2008 (2008)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Red Hill Lookout - 2022
Red Hill Lookout - 2022 (2022)Photo: Monica Gordon, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Red Hill Lookout
Photo: Monica Gordon, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Red Hill L.O.
Red Hill L.OPhoto: Dave Bula and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Red Hill in 2008
Red Hill in 2008 (2008)Photo: Dave Bula and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Red Hill in 2022
Red Hill in 2022 (2022)Photo: Dave Bula 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: 1949
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1936
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1947

    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, height, 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) 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: 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.