Fire lookout · Skamania County, Washington
Big Huckleberry Lookout Site
Summit lookout on Big Huckleberry Mountain: a 1920s cab, a 1931 L-4 cab, then gone. Only anchors, glass and cable were reported later.
- Gone
- Open to the public
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The L-4 cab is gone. Willhite found guy-line anchors, glass and cable on the summit; he could not date its destruction.
Visit & stay
Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.
Access
Open to the public. Reached on foot by trail. WTA mentions a rough road approach, provided you are OK with it. Gate or closure status not stated.
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- Short spur trail to the summit, branching off the Pacific Crest Trail (Willhite; WTA describes a steep, undulating trail).
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Ground-level cabCab from the 1920s, replaced in 1931 by an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1920
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 4,204 ft (1,281 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Skamania County, Washington
- Coordinates
- 45.84732, −121.78379
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-wa-big-huckleberry
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
- 1920 BuiltWeebly index says the site was developed as a lookout point; FFLOS dates the first cab to the 1920sSources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1931 Replaced by a new structureL-4 cab placed on the summit, replacing the 1920s cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
- 1941 EventPanoramic photographs taken on July 9, 1941Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1946 EventA Geodetic Survey team mentioned the lookoutSource: willhiteweb.com
- No record between 1946 and 2012
- 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered as US 1307, WA 207 on June 23, 2012Source: firetower.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Big Huckleberry lookout stood on the summit of Big Huckleberry Mountain, on the divide between Panther Creek and the Little White Salmon River, just north of the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area.1 The Weebly index of Washington lookouts says the site was developed as a lookout point in 1920.2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register describes a 1920s cab that was swapped in 1931 for an L-4 cab.3,4 Willhite writes that an L-4 went on top in 1931.1 An L-4 was a 14-by-14-foot frame cab that could be set atop tall firetowers, according to the National Historic Lookout Register.5
Few records describe the lookout's working life. Willhite says little is known about the old lookout on the summit.1 Panoramic photographs were taken there on July 9, 1941.2 A Geodetic Survey team referred to the lookout in 1946.1 I found no source that names who staffed it or any fire it reported.
The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says the cab is gone, and the Weebly index lists the site as removed.3,2 Willhite found some guy-line anchors, glass and cable on the summit, but he could not tell when the lookout was destroyed.1
The summit is reached by a short spur trail that branches off the Pacific Crest Trail.1,6 The Washington Trails Association calls it another former fire lookout site, with views that are still quite good, though not as all-encompassing as at Grassy Knoll.6 WTA describes the trail as a steep, undulating path and mentions a rough road approach.6 Willhite's page gives no date for his visit, so his description of what remains may be out of date.1
- Big Huckleberry Mountain, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, WillhiteWeb.com (Eric Willhite), http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/big_huckleberry_mountain/gifford_pinchot_national_forest_321.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Big Huckleberry, Forest Lookouts index, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/big-huckleberry.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Big Huckleberry Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/big-huckleberry-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Big Huckleberry Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/bighuckleberry.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Definitions, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/definitions/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Big Huckleberry Mountain, Washington Trails Association, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/big-huckleberry-mountain (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Fire Lookouts (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, 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
- FFLOS register entry US 1307 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- Big Huckleberry Mountain (Washington Trails Association) (opens another site)
- Definitions (National Historic Lookout Register) (opens another site)
- FFLA Washington lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Big Huckleberry on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Big Huckleberry on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
- Big Huckleberry on WillhiteWeb.com Washington Fire Lookouts (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.