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Fire lookout · Baker County, Oregon

Summit Point Lookout

Summit Point's 1949 timber tower with an L-4 cab sits in Wallowa-Whitman NF; staffed in summers as of 2013, and a 2023 report calls it active and standing.

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. A 2013 visitor report says the spur road was closed to traffic and gated that year; the lookout is reached on foot from the trailhead. No source read says whether the public may enter the cab.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
A 2013 visit describes about a mile's walk from the trailhead. A 2023 trip report reaches the trailhead over forest roads NF-77 and NF-7715.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower20-foot open timber tower with 14 by 14 foot L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
7,014 ft (2,138 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Baker County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.98287, −117.23931
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-summit-point

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. 1949 BuiltBuilt to replace an earlier open platform tower (used from the 1930s, per firelookout.com). A September 1949 newspaper item says it was complete except for painting.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1951 EventOregon Lookouts lists a 20-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 model 1936 cab as erected in 1951. This conflicts with the 1949 completion.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1964 StaffedGalen West was due up at the lookout for the summer; an August 27 item said Terry Speelman of Richland would replace him.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1964 and 1988
  5. 1988 StaffedRonalee Leckenby is listed as lookout personnel for 1988-1989 and 1993-1995, per firelookout.com.Source: firelookout.com
  6. 1996 Eventfirelookout.com lists 1996 and 1999 as not staffed.Source: firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1996 and 2013
  8. 2013 EventA woman in the lookout said the spur road was gated that year because people were driving up at night.Source: cherylhill.net
  9. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register on July 6, 2022 as US 1642.Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2023 Condition assessmentA September 2023 trip report describes the lookout as active and currently standing.Source: theroamingcivic.com
  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.

Summit Point sits on a ridge in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, about 12 miles northwest of Halfway in Baker County.1 Firelookout.com says the site was first used in the 1930s with a 20-foot platform tower.1

The present tower dates from 1949 and took the place of that earlier open platform tower.2,1 The Record-Courier reported on September 29, 1949, that the tower was complete except for painting.3 Oregon Lookouts also dates a 20-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 model 1936 cab to 1951, which conflicts with the 1949 date.3 The Register gives the setup as a 14-by-14-foot L-4 cab on an open timber tower 20 feet tall.2

In 1964 the Record-Courier said Galen West was due up at the station for the summer, and on August 27 it reported that Terry Speelman of Richland would replace him.3 Firelookout.com lists Ronalee Leckenby as the recorded lookout for 1988 to 1989 and 1993 to 1995, and marks 1996 and 1999 as not staffed.1 The sources read name no fires this lookout spotted.

Cheryl Hill visited on August 17, 2013, when the lookout was listed as staffed in summer.4 A woman in the lookout told her that the spur road had been gated that year because people were driving up at night.4 She found the road closed to traffic and the walk from the trailhead about a mile.4 A 2023 report from The Roaming Civic lists the lookout as active and currently standing, and describes the trailhead as reached over forest roads NF-77 and NF-7715.5

The Register lists its registration date as July 6, 2022.2 The sources read do not say whether the public may enter the cab, and the 2013 gate may no longer be in place. Check with the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest before planning a visit, and do not climb the tower without permission.

  1. Summit Point Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/summitpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Summit Point Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/summit-point-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Summit Point, Forest Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/summit-point.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Summit Point - Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill), https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2013/08/25/summit-point/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Summit Point L.O., The Roaming Civic, https://theroamingcivic.com/2023/09/02/summit-point-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Summit Point Lookout - 2015
Summit Point Lookout - 2015 (2015)Photo: Dennis Poulin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Summit Point in 1999
Summit Point in 1999 (1999)Photo: Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Summit Point in 2017
Summit Point in 2017 (2017)Photo: 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: 1949
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1951

    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, 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) 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
  5. 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
  6. 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

More about this lookout elsewhere

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