FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Snohomish County, Washington

Bannock Mountain Lookout Site

Snohomish County, WA L-4 cab built on the site in the 1930s; later abandoned and gone, with no source describing remains or visitor access.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register and Firelookout.com say the cab was abandoned and is gone; WillhiteWeb has never been shown 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
Trail
WillhiteWeb: no trail exists from Canyon Lake; access roads are good gravel

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
Unknown
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,484 ft (2,281 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Snohomish County, Washington
Coordinates
48.25480, −120.99478
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-bannock-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 4.3 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. 1955 EventCab appears on a 1955 Forest Service map (WillhiteWeb)Source: willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1955 and 2020
  3. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered February 12, 2020; nominated by Tammy McLeodSource: firetower.org
  4. Date unknown AbandonedRegister and Firelookout.com say abandoned; no year givenSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. Date unknown BuiltL-4 cab constructed on the site; every source gives only the 1930sSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. Date unknown RemovedForest Lookouts says removed; no year givenSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Bannock Mountain sits in Snohomish County, Washington, in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, at 7,484 feet (2,281 meters).1 In the 1930s an L-4 cab was built on the site.1,2,3,4 The sources give only the decade, so the exact year is not known.1,3,4

The sources we read do not name anyone who staffed the cab or any fire it watched.

The Register says the cab was eventually abandoned and no longer exists.1 Firelookout.com also lists it as abandoned,2 while Forest Lookouts says it was removed.3 WillhiteWeb found the cab only on a 1955 Forest Service map,4 and its author writes that nobody has shown him any remains of it.4

We found no source that describes the site today. WillhiteWeb calls it one of the most remote lookout sites in Washington, says no trail runs from Canyon Lake, and describes the access roads as good gravel.4 It also says a search near or on the summit is still needed once the snow melts.4 None of the sources says whether the site is open to visitors, so check with the Forest Service before you go.

  1. Bannock Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/bannock-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Bannock Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/bannockmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bannock Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/bannock-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Bannock Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/bannock_mountain_lookout/glacier_peak_wilderness_057.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, 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: what it is built of, design, 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, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.