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Fire lookout · Clackamas County, Oregon

Thunder Mountain Lookout Site

Mount Hood NF lookout in Clackamas County, OR: 14-ft L-4 tower dated 1933 (or 1934), deactivated 1964 and gone by 1965; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower gone by 1965; no source we read describes what remains at the site

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower14-foot L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,165 ft (1,574 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Mount Hood National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Clackamas County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.99192, −122.16676
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-thunder-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 3.8 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. 1933 Built14-foot L-4 tower per the register and firelookout.com; Forest Lookouts dates it 1934Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1933 and 1952
  3. 1952 AlteredTower legs replaced; the tower has nine leg supportsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1963 Condition assessmentInspection found rotting beams and a sagging floor and recommended replacementSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1964 ClosedLookout deactivatedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1965 RemovedGone by 1965Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1965 and 2010
  8. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 21, 2010; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  9. 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.

Thunder Mountain was a lookout in the Mount Hood National Forest, in Clackamas County, Oregon, about 35 miles southwest of Mount Hood.1,2 The register gives the summit at 5,165 feet, or 1,574 meters.1

The sources disagree on the year the tower went up. The register and Rex's Fire Lookout Page both date the Forest Service's 14-foot L-4 tower to 1933.1,2 Forest Lookouts gives 1934, and quotes a 1963 inspection that says the same.3

Forest Lookouts says the tower legs were replaced in 1952, and notes that the tower stood on nine leg supports.3 In 1963 an inspector found rotting beams and a sagging floor, and wrote that the tower should be replaced. The same report says the public also used the structure, with 40 visitors that year.3

The lookout was deactivated in 1964.3 The register and Rex's page both say it was gone by 1965.1,2 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Oregon list marks the tower as gone.4

The register recorded the site on September 21, 2010, on the nomination of Ray Kresek.1

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains of the tower today, or whether the site is open to visitors.

  1. Thunder Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/thunder-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Thunder Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://www.firelookout.com/or/thundermtn35.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Thunder Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/thunder-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Oregon lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/or/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Thunder Mountain Lookout 1954
Thunder Mountain Lookout 1954 (1954)Photo: Harold Chriswell, Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Thunder Mountain Lookout 1933 - 1965
Thunder Mountain Lookout 1933 - 1965 (1933)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Thunder Mountain Lookout
Thunder Mountain LookoutPhoto: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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, 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.