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Fire lookout · Lewis County, Washington

Burley Mountain Lookout

1934 L-4 ground-house lookout on Burley Mountain in Gifford Pinchot NF, Lewis County, WA; staffed until 1974, now day use and fire detection, with a restoration aimed at rental.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. Day use only, from sunrise to sunset, per the Forest Service page last updated August 24, 2026. A restoration to allow public rental is planned; no rental was found open.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Half-mile trail No. 256A from a parking area in the saddle below the summit; the Forest Service recommends parking near the gate and walking the last 300 feet
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 ground house, 14 by 14 feet, no catwalkThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
310 ft (94.5 m)
Elevation
5,154 ft (1,571 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lewis County, Washington
Coordinates
46.40750, −121.86410
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-burley-mountain

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

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. 1930 StaffedChehalis Bee-Nugget notice said K.I. Peters would occupy Burley Mountain for the summerSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1931 StaffedJune 1931 notice places K.I. Peters at Burley Mountain on the Randle districtSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1934 BuiltL-4 ground house constructed; the register and the Forest Service both give 1934Sources: nhlr.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, fs.usda.gov
  4. No record between 1934 and 1960
  5. 1960 EventDaily Chronicle notice of May 27, 1960 calls Burley the first lookout in the Randle District, scheduled to open June 24. This does not square with the 1930-31 noticesSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1964 EventMay 1964 announcement: the 37 regular and emergency lookouts would be cut to six regularly manned ones; Burley Mountain was one of the six retained, mainly for communicationsSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1968 StaffedSummer 1968 staffed by a Concrete, Washington, teacher named Darleen Kemper in one Daily Chronicle story and Charleen Kemper in anotherSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1972 StaffedJan Grose, 23, of Mossyrock, operated the lookout, the only tower open in the Randle Ranger District; officials said better radio coverage would make it unnecessarySource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1974 Last staffedStaffed until 1974 per the National Forest FoundationSource: nationalforests.org
  10. No record between 1974 and 2000
  11. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered November 4, 2000 as US 356, WA 37; nominated by Ray KresekSource: nhlr.org
  12. No record between 2000 and 2026
  13. 2026 EventForest Service page (updated August 24, 2026): one of three remaining lookouts on the forest, still used for fire detection, day use onlySource: fs.usda.gov
  14. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Burley Mountain Lookout stands in Lewis County, Washington, inside the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.1 One listing puts it about 10 miles south-southeast of Randle, while a 1960 newspaper says 28 miles south.2,3

The register calls it a ground house rather than a tower. It is 14 feet square, has no catwalk, follows the L-4 design, and dates from 1934.1,4 The sources I read do not say why it was placed on this peak.1

A fire watch was on the mountain before the cab was built.3 A 1930 newspaper notice said K.I. Peters would occupy Burley Mountain for the summer, and a June 1931 notice put him there again.3 A May 1960 Daily Chronicle notice called Burley the district's first lookout, set to open that June. The sources do not reconcile that with the earlier notices.3

In May 1964 the forest announced that its 37 regular and emergency lookouts would be cut to six regularly manned ones, and Burley Mountain was one of the six kept.3 In July 1968 a teacher from Concrete, Washington, staffed the lookout for the summer.3 The Daily Chronicle gave her name as both Darleen and Charleen Kemper.3 In 1972 Jan Grose, 23, of Mossyrock, staffed the one lookout still operating in the Randle Ranger District.3

The National Forest Foundation says Burley was staffed until 1974.5 An undated firelookout.com listing says the cab has sat unused for years and is being restored.2 The Forest Service page, last updated August 24, 2026, says it is one of three lookouts left on the forest and still used to spot fires.4 The sources differ on how actively it is used today.2,4

An undated National Forest Foundation article says Filson and the foundation are working with the Gifford Pinchot National Forest to restore the lookout over the next two years, to make it available for public rental.5 I did not find a rental open yet. The register gives the elevation as 5,154 feet, while the foundation and the 1968 newspaper give about 5,310 feet.1,5,3

Today the Forest Service lists it as open for day visits only, between sunrise and sunset.4 Hikers take the half-mile trail No. 256A to it, starting from a lot in the saddle just under the summit.4 The Forest Service advises leaving the car below the lookout by the gate and covering the final 300 feet on foot.4 The Forest Service page does not say whether visitors may climb the lookout. Because the cab is still used for fire detection, please do not try to climb it.4

  1. Burley Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/burley-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Burley Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/burley.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Burley Mountain, Forest Lookouts Washington (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), which quotes the Chehalis Bee-Nugget, the Daily Chronicle and Longview Daily News, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/burley-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Burley Mountain Lookout, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/giffordpinchot/recreation/burley-mountain-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Hitting the High Points: Fairview and Burley Mountain Fire Lookout Tower Restoration, National Forest Foundation, https://www.nationalforests.org/article/hitting-the-high-points-fairview-and-burley-mountain-fire-lookout-tower-restoration/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Burley Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Burley Mtn. in 1954
Burley Mtn. in 1954 (1954)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Gary Weber, Dick Morrison, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Burley Mtn. L.O.
Burley Mtn. L.OPhoto: the U.S. Forest Service, Gary Weber, Dick Morrison, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Burley Mtn. in 2009
Burley Mtn. in 2009 (2009)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Gary Weber, Dick Morrison, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Burley Mtn. in 2020
Burley Mtn. in 2020 (2020)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Gary Weber, Dick Morrison, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Burley Mountain Lookout
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · 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. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: what it is built of, design, dates, photos, 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: height, 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. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: photos, links TrailChick (trailchick.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, coordinates, elevation, lookout type, years built). The guide's text is not reproduced; its card photos are listed with credit to TrailChick, for the project's photo mirroring. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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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