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Fire lookout · Skamania County, Washington

Burnt Peak Lookout Site

Burnt Peak lookout, Gifford Pinchot NF, Skamania County WA: L-4 cab built 1931 or 1932 (sources differ), lookouts named to 1963, removed; WillhiteWeb summit captions mention a foundation and benches.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. FFLOS says the cab has been removed, with no date; firelookout.com says it is not clear when it was destroyed. WillhiteWeb summit photo captions, which carry no dates, mention a square foundation (one says still rising) and two benches just below the site.

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 describes forest roads FR 3211 and FR 704 to a road high point, then a short off-trail climb. No source gives current road or closure status.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Park at the road high point on the north side of the mountain; WillhiteWeb lists half a mile off trail and about 400 feet of gain

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabgable-roofed L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,106 ft (1,252 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Skamania County, Washington
Coordinates
46.07251, −121.88031
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-burnt-peak

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 3.9 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. 1931 BuiltWillhiteWeb and Rex's give 1931 for the site's lookout station; WillhiteWeb says it had a gable-roofed L-4 cabSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 BuiltFFLOS and firelookout.com date the L-4 cab to 1932; disputedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  3. 1938 StaffedJack Price was the lookout (WillhiteWeb)Source: willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1938 and 1963
  5. 1963 StaffedLouie Larson was fire lookout (WillhiteWeb; Mt. Adams Sun item dated August 1, 1963, quoted on Rex's)Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1964 AbandonedA USGS party said the lookout had been abandonedSource: willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1964 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the FFLOS January 22, 2011 as US 826Source: firetower.org
  9. 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.

The Burnt Peak lookout stood at about 4,106 feet in Skamania County, Washington, in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which the Forest Service administered.1

The sources disagree about when it was built. WillhiteWeb dates the lookout station to 1931 and describes the cab as a gable-roofed L-4.2 Rex's page also dates the station to 1931.3 The register and firelookout.com date the cab to 1932.1,4 We could not settle it, so both dates appear in the record.

Lookouts we can name include Jack Price, whom WillhiteWeb places at the lookout in 1938, and Louie Larson, whom it places there in 1963.2 A Mt. Adams Sun item dated August 1, 1963, quoted on Rex's page, also names Larson.3 A USGS crew reported the lookout abandoned in 1964.2

The register says the cab "has been removed" but gives no date.1 Firelookout.com is also unsure when it was destroyed.4

WillhiteWeb's photo captions mention a square foundation on the summit, which one caption describes as "still rising," and two benches just below the site, one where a shed stood.2 The register also has a photo of an eyebolt in a boulder, dated July 26, 2000.1 The summit captions carry no dates, so they may not show the summit as it is now.

WillhiteWeb's route leaves the Lone Butte Sno-park where the pavement ends, follows forest roads FR 3211 and FR 704, and parks at a high point on the north side of the mountain.2 From there the page describes about half a mile off trail, with roughly 400 feet of gain.2 We found no current road or closure information, so check with the Forest Service before going.

  1. Burnt Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/burnt-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Burnt Peak Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/burnt_peak_lookout/forest_service_030.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Burnt Peak - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/burnt-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Burnt Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/burntpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Burnt Peak Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
7/26/2000
7/26/2000 (2000)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Eyebolt in boulder 7/26/2000
Eyebolt in boulder 7/26/2000 (2000)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
7/26/2000
7/26/2000 (2000)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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. 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. 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, 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.