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Fire lookout · Kittitas County, Washington

Bald Mountain Lookout Site

Kittitas County lookout on Bald Mountain: a 1931 tower and cabin, a 38-foot L-4 tower from 1955, removed in 1972; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The L-4 tower was removed in 1972; the sources read do not describe what remains

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 tower38-foot L-4 tower (1955) that replaced a 44-foot light steel tower with log cabin (1931)The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,898 ft (1,798 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Kittitas County, Washington
Coordinates
46.96752, −120.95296
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-bald-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 3.9 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. 1931 Built44-foot light steel tower with an accompanying log cabin, per the registerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. No record between 1931 and 1955
  3. 1955 Replaced by a new structure38-foot L-4 tower about one mile southeast of the summitSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  4. No record between 1955 and 1972
  5. 1972 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  6. No record between 1972 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: July 19, 2012Source: FFLOS register entry
  8. 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.

Bald Mountain in Kittitas County had a fire lookout starting in 1931.1 The register says a 44-foot light steel tower and a log cabin were built that year.1 In 1955 a 38-foot L-4 tower replaced them, about a mile southeast of the summit.1 The register also mentions a patrol point two miles west.1

The peak sits about 19 miles west of Ellensburg.2 The register places the lookout in the Wenatchee National Forest, but a forest-lookouts list puts the peak in the Snoqualmie National Forest.1,3 The sources do not settle which is right.

No staffing history or notable fires appear in the sources available for this story.

The L-4 tower came down in 1972. The register says it was removed, and firelookout.com says it was destroyed.1,2

None of the sources describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today. They also do not say whether the site is open to visitors, so check with the forest office before heading up.

  1. Bald Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/bald-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Bald Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/baldmtn163.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bald Mountain, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/bald-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bald Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: 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. 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
  6. 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.