FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Boundary Mountain Lookout Site

1938 40-foot pole L-4 lookout near the Canadian border in Pend Oreille County; now gone, with a footing reportedly still visible.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register and firelookout.com say gone; a Washington lookout list marks it removed. No removal date in the sources read. WillhiteWeb's 2024 description reports a footing still visible.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. On Colville National Forest land. A gate on the access road is closed December 1 to July 1 for wildlife habitat. The final few hundred feet are a bushwhack. No current closure notice found in the sources read.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
No tower stands. WillhiteWeb's route starts on Highway 31 north of Metaline Falls, runs up Slumber Mountain Road and forest roads FR 400 and 430, then a bushwhack. Hike is about 1.3 miles one way.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot pole tower with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1938
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
5,140 ft (1,567 m)
Agency
Colville National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.99500, −117.24753 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-boundary-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 its recorded height.

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. 1938 Built40-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, per the register, firelookout.com and WillhiteWebSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1938 and 2012
  3. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterFormer Fire Lookout Sites registration dated November 23, 2012Source: 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Boundary Mountain got a lookout in 1938: a 40-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab.1,2,3 It sat at the south end of the summit ridge, about 0.3 miles south of the border.3 According to WillhiteWeb, that spot was enough to see into the United States.3 The elevation is recorded two ways. The Former Fire Lookout Sites register gives 5,140 feet, and WillhiteWeb gives 5,120.1,3

The tower is gone. The register and firelookout.com both describe it as gone, and a Washington lookout list marks it removed.1,2,4 The register added the site on November 23, 2012.1

The site lies in the Colville National Forest.2,4 Maps from the 1930s show a trail reaching almost to the summit, and later maps show an old Jeep trail up to the lookout area.3 A WillhiteWeb description from 2024 says a footing can still be seen at the site, though it is gradually being covered over. The trees there are getting bigger.3

Visitors reach the area from Highway 31 north of Metaline Falls, then take forest roads.3 A gate on the access road is shut from December 1 to July 1 to protect wildlife habitat.3 The hike is about 1.3 miles one way.3 The last few hundred feet are off-trail bushwhacking, reaching old trees near the summit.3

  1. Boundary Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/boundary-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Boundary Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/boundarymtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Boundary Mountain/Ridge Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, https://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/boundary_ridge/mountain_319.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Boundary Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Washington forest lookout list, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/boundary-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

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 location by 520 m.

    • FFLOS: 48.99500, −117.24753
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 48.99937, −117.24520

    The map uses the position from FFLOS.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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: 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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

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