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Fire lookout · Crook County, Oregon

Round Mountain Lookout Site

Ochoco NF summit in Crook County, OR: a 1930s cabin, a 1950s timber tower gone by 1972, and communication equipment on the summit today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower gone by 1972 (removed, destroyed or burned, depending on the source); the summit now has a communication tower

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. A trail listing gives trailheads at Walton Lake and near Lookout Mountain; no source describes limits at the communication site

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Trailheads at Walton Lake (north) and near Lookout Mountain (south), per a trail listing

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Two-story buildingCabin in the 1930s, then a timber tower in the 1950s: treated timber R-6 per FFLOS, enclosed L-4 per firelookout.comThe designs: L-4, R-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1930
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,753 ft (2,058 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Ochoco National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Crook County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.39222, −120.34667
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-round-mountain

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.5 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. 1930 BuiltCabin built in the 1930s; sources give only the decade, so 1930 stands for the 1930sSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. No record between 1930 and 1950
  3. 1950 Replaced by a new structureTimber tower replaced the cabin in the 1950s (R-6 per FFLOS, enclosed L-4 per firelookout.com); only the decade is givenSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  4. 1952 StaffedCarol Lochrie listed as known lookout personnel for 1952Source: firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1952 and 1972
  6. 1972 DestroyedSources differ: FFLOS says removed in 1972, firelookout.com says destroyed, and a trail listing says burned down in a fireSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, komoot.com
  7. No record between 1972 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterUS 1087, OR 444, registered July 16, 2011Source: firetower.org
  9. 2020 EventForest Service decision signed 09/09/2020 for the AT&T Round Mountain Communication Site, marked completed; the record describes a planned 40-foot monopole towerSource: fs.usda.gov
  10. 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.

Round Mountain rises to 6,755 feet in Crook County, Oregon, inside the Ochoco National Forest; firelookout.com gives 6,753 feet.1,2 A cabin built on the summit in the 1930s came first, and a timber tower replaced it in the 1950s.3,1 The two main histories disagree about that tower. One calls it a treated timber R-6 tower, and the other an enclosed L-4 tower.3,1 The one named lookout in the sources is Carol Lochrie, listed for 1952.1

Sources agree that the tower was gone by 1972, but they differ on how it ended.3,1,2 The Forest Fire Lookout Association register says it was removed that year, and firelookout.com says it was destroyed.3,1 A trail listing says a fire burned it down in 1972.2

Today the summit carries a communication tower, according to that same trail listing.2 A Forest Service project record for an AT&T communication site called Round Mountain was signed in September 2020 and is marked completed.4 It describes a planned 40-foot monopole tower about 5 miles south of Walton Lake. The record does not mention the summit, so linking it to the summit's communication tower is an inference.4 No source found says what, if anything, of the lookout remains under the new equipment. The trail listing gives trailheads at Walton Lake and near Lookout Mountain.2

  1. Round Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/or/roundmtn97.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Round Mountain, Komoot, https://www.komoot.com/highlight/5711756 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Round Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/round-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. AT&T Round Mountain Communication Site, USDA Forest Service Ochoco National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/ochoco/projects/57762 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Round Mountain Lookout 1964
Round Mountain Lookout 1964 (1964)Photo: Al Shimondle, Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Round Mountain Lookout 1950 - 1972
Round Mountain Lookout 1950 - 1972 (1950)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, 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: 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, 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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