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Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Baldy Mountain Lookout Site

Wenatchee NF site in Chelan County; L-4 cab built 1931 and now gone; FFLOS-registered 2012; no staffing, fire or present-day condition found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Both listings say the L-4 cab is now gone; neither gives a year for its removal

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
Ground-level cabL-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,421 ft (1,957 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
47.86364, −120.32911
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-baldy-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 BuiltL-4 cab built in 1931 (register; firelookout.com)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. No record between 1931 and 2012
  3. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 20, 2012, nominated by Ray Kresek; US 1384, WA 284Source: firetower.org
  4. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Baldy Mountain sits in Chelan County, in the Wenatchee National Forest, about 14 miles west of Chelan.1,2 The lookout site stands at 6,421 feet.1

An L-4 cab went up there in 1931.1 Both listings agree that the cab is now gone.1,2 The U.S. Forest Service administers the land.1 The register carries three photos of the site, credited to Eric Willhite, taken looking north, south and west.1

Ray Kresek nominated the site to the Former Fire Lookout Sites register, which listed it on August 20, 2012, as US 1384 and WA 284.1

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether the public can visit it. Check with the Forest Service before going up the mountain.

  1. Baldy Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/baldy-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Baldy Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/baldymtn.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Baldy Mountain Lookout site - view north
Baldy Mountain Lookout site - view northPhoto: Eric Willhite, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Baldy Mountain Lookout site - view south
Baldy Mountain Lookout site - view southPhoto: Eric Willhite, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Baldy Mountain Lookout site - view west
Baldy Mountain Lookout site - view westPhoto: Eric Willhite, 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, 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. 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.