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Fire lookout · Skamania County, Washington

Bunker Hill Lookout Site (Skamania County)

Also known as Bunker Hill

Gifford Pinchot NF summit lookout: 1940 cabin, 1943 26-ft L-4 pole tower, AWS use 1942-43; abandoned in the 1950s. Five foundation blocks remain per Oregon Hikers.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register and firelookout.com say abandoned in the 1950s and gone; Oregon Hikers says a tower was destroyed in the 1950s; the Washington lookout list marks it removed. Oregon Hikers reports five foundation blocks remain.

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. Gifford Pinchot National Forest. WillhiteWeb gives paved access and a hike of almost two miles with a 1,200-foot gain. Oregon Hikers gives 2.6 miles on foot from the Trout Creek Trailhead.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
No tower stands. Oregon Hikers: 2.6 miles on foot from the Trout Creek Trailhead, which has driving directions. WillhiteWeb: almost 2 miles, 1,200-foot gain.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower1940 cabin, replaced by a 26-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab (dated 1943 by WillhiteWeb and firelookout.com)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1940
Height
26 ft (7.9 m)
Elevation
2,383 ft (726 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Skamania County, Washington
Coordinates
45.81601, −121.93069
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-bunker-hill-skamania-county

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 4.1 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. 1934 EventPanorama photos taken July 13, 1934Sources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1935 StaffedPete Paladeni manned the lookout around 1935 (WillhiteWeb); he recalled a little lookout house on the summitSource: willhiteweb.com
  3. 1940 BuiltCabin built on the summit per the register; WillhiteWeb says the lookout inventory has a cabin there in 1940Sources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1942 EventAircraft Warning Service use begins; activated March 9, 1942 (Portland Filter Center per weebly list)Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1943 EventAircraft Warning Service station inactivated October 15, 1943; sleeping quarters and woodshed added with AWS funds; Forest Service kept the site as a fire detection pointSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1943 Replaced by a new structureCabin replaced by a 26-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab; firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb date it to 1943; the register leaves the date outSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  7. 1950 AbandonedAbandoned in the 1950s per the register, firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb. Only the decade is given; year set to 1950 as a placeholder.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. 1950 DestroyedOregon Hikers says a former lookout tower was destroyed in the 1950s. Conflicts with 'abandoned'. Decade only; year set to 1950 as a placeholder.Source: oregonhikers.org
  9. No record between 1950 and 2020
  10. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterFormer Fire Lookout Sites registration dated April 7, 2020Source: firetower.org
  11. 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.

Bunker Hill sits eight miles north of Stevenson in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.1,2 Panorama photos from July 13, 1934 were taken high off the ground, and WillhiteWeb guesses the vantage point was a platform tower.3,4 WillhiteWeb also relays a recollection from Pete Paladeni, who manned the lookout around 1935 and said there was a small lookout house on the summit.3

The register puts a cabin on the site in 1940, later succeeded by a 26-foot pole tower carrying an L-4 cab.1 Firelookout.com lists the 26-foot tower under 1943, and WillhiteWeb has it in place by then.2,3

In 1942 the site served the Aircraft Warning Service, active from March 9, 1942 to October 15, 1943.4 Improvements paid for with AWS funds added sleeping quarters and a woodshed, and afterward the Forest Service kept the site for fire detection.4,3

Sources differ on how the lookout ended. The register and firelookout.com say it was abandoned in the 1950s and is gone.1,2 WillhiteWeb agrees it was abandoned then.3 Oregon Hikers instead says the tower was wiped out in the 1950s.5 The Washington forest lookout list marks it removed.4

Oregon Hikers reports five foundation blocks still in place, though the summit is now completely covered by new forest.5 WillhiteWeb also mentions a benchmark, about 150 feet south of the former lookout house, sitting on a low rocky knoll.3

WillhiteWeb lists the hike as almost two miles with a 1,200-foot gain, and gives the access as paved.3 Oregon Hikers puts the walk at 2.6 miles from the Trout Creek Trailhead.5

  1. Bunker Hill Lookout Site (Skamania County), Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/bunker-hill-lookout-site-skamania-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Bunker Hill Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/bunkerhill154.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bunker Hill Lookout in Skamania County, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/bunker_hill_site/lookout_216.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Bunker Hill - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Washington forest lookout list, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/bunker-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Bunker Hill Summit, Oregon Hikers field guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Bunker_Hill_Summit (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Bunker Hill Lookout panoramic 7-13-1934 (N)
Bunker Hill Lookout panoramic 7-13-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bunker Hill Lookout panoramic 7-13-1934 (SE)
Bunker Hill Lookout panoramic 7-13-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bunker Hill Lookout panoramic 7-13-1934 (SW)
Bunker Hill Lookout panoramic 7-13-1934 (SW) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bunker Hill Lookout site
Bunker Hill Lookout sitePhoto: Eric Willhite, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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. 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

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