FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Alpine Lookout

Also known as Alpine (Nason Ridge), Alpine Mountain

Forest Service lookout on Nason Ridge, Chelan County. A 1936 L-4 cab was replaced by an R-6 cab in 1975; a 2019 plan says the 1936 building still stands.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. Reached on foot by trail. The register says the cab remains in active service; the sources read do not say whether visitors may enter it.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About 10 miles round trip with about 2,600 ft of gain, from a trailhead reached by FR 6910 off US 2. NW Forest Pass or interagency pass required (2025 hiking guide).
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabR-6 flat-top cab (1975), replacing a 1936 L-4 cabThe designs: L-4, R-6
Built of
Wood
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,156 ft (1,876 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
47.81193, −120.86561
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-alpine

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 4.1 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. 1920 EventSite first used for fire detection: camp with an outdoor alidade, phone and tentSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1928 StaffedKnown lookout personnel: George and Polly DennisSource: firelookout.com
  3. 1936 BuiltL-4 cab with an oversize stone base. A 2019 plan says this building still stands; the register and firelookout.com say it was replaced in 1975Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, app.leg.wa.gov
  4. No record between 1936 and 1975
  5. 1975 Replaced by a new structureR-6 flat-top cab replaced the L-4 cabSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  6. No record between 1975 and 1995
  7. 1995 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate Registered July 1, 1995Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2006 RestoredNew hip roof installed to protect the lookout better from heavy snow.Sources: firelookout.org, firelookout.org
  9. 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.

Alpine Lookout sits on a knob at the eastern end of Nason Ridge in Chelan County, Washington, on Forest Service land.1,2,3 The register dates the site's first use for fire detection to 1920, when an outdoor alidade, a phone and a tent were set up.1 Firelookout.com describes that first stage as a camp.4

A 1936 L-4 groundhouse was built on an unusually large stone base.1 Firelookout.com gives the same year for its L-4 cab.4 In 1975 that cab was replaced by a standard R-6 flat-top cab, the one in place now.1,4

A 2019 management plan for the Nason Ridge Community Forest disagrees about the 1936 building. Citing a 2009 Forest Service source, it says the original 1936 lookout still stands.2 The register and firelookout.com both describe that cab as replaced, and I could not settle the question from the pages I read.1,4

Firelookout.com lists George and Polly Dennis as known lookout personnel in 1928.4 A 2025 hiking guide counts it among the few Cascade lookouts that are still staffed.3 The register says the cab is still in active use and reachable only along a trail.1

Reaching it takes a hike. The 2025 guide describes a round trip of about 10 miles with about 2,600 feet of climbing, starting from a trailhead reached by FR 6910 off US 2, and says a Northwest Forest Pass or an interagency pass is required.3 The sources I read do not say whether visitors may go inside the cab, so do not count on it.

Firelookout.com says the cab can be used in emergencies and that its roof has been altered since.4

  1. Alpine Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/alpine-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Nason Ridge Community Forest Management Plan (2019), Washington State Legislature report, https://app.leg.wa.gov/ReportsToTheLegislature/Home/GetPDF?fileName=Nason+Ridge+Community+Forest+Management+Plan+Final+11.27.19_44f1a365-1f4d-4782-a665-c1582f3630f3.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Alpine Lookout, Hike of the Week, https://www.hikeoftheweek.com/2025/06/12/alpine-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Alpine (Nason Ridge) Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/alpine.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Alpine Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Alpine Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Alpine in 1972
Alpine in 1972 (1972)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Alpine in 1979
Alpine in 1979 (1979)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Alpine in 2007
Alpine in 2007 (2007)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Alpine Lookout
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · source

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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.

    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1936
    • OpenStreetMap: 1975
    • TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts: 1975

    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, 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, dates, 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 Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: what it is built of, register numbers, access, 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: 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. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: photos, links TrailChick (trailchick.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, coordinates, elevation, lookout type, years built). The guide's text is not reproduced; its card photos are listed with credit to TrailChick, for the project's photo mirroring. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  8. WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Fire Lookouts Gave us: links WillhiteWeb.com · No licence stated; names and page links only (the site's photos and text are not reproduced). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  9. 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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