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Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Chumstick Mountain Lookout Site

A 1931 ground-mounted L-4 cab on the Entiat Ridge, reached by a road built that year; removed or destroyed in 1967, with no source describing the summit today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed or destroyed in 1967; no source describes what remains on the summit.

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. Drive-up on Forest Service roads per Washington Lookouts, which advises high clearance and notes that road conditions change. No gate is mentioned; current status not verified.

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Eagle Creek Road to Van Creek Road (NF7520), then the Chumstick route for about eight miles to a short spur to the top.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabGround-mounted gable-roofed L-4 cab, the only structure on the siteThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,810 ft (1,771 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Wenatchee National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
47.65053, −120.45119
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-chumstick-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 4.4 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. 1914 EventSite first developed as a heliograph lookout, also known then as Swakane.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1923 StaffedFirelookout.com lists Roy Thurman as lookout in 1923; the list continues through 1965.Source: firelookout.com
  3. 1931 BuiltGround-mounted gable-roofed L-4 cab built; the only structure on the site.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1931 EventRoad crew held a picnic on the summit; sources give June 14 (Washington Lookouts list) and July 14 (Willhite).Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1933 StaffedSwen Hansen served as lookout and reported record visitor counts in a 1933 Leavenworth Echo item.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1933 and 1967
  7. 1967 RemovedFiretower.org says the cab was removed in 1967; Firelookout.com and Willhite say destroyed.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. No record between 1967 and 2012
  9. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register as US 1393 on August 22, 2012.Source: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Chumstick Mountain is a prominent point on the long Entiat Ridge, in the Wenatchee National Forest in Chelan County, about 11 miles west of Entiat.1,2,3

The summit's first use was as a heliograph lookout in 1914, when it was also known as Swakane.4

The lookout was a ground-mounted, gable-roofed L-4 cab built in 1931, and it was the only structure on the site.1,2,3 That spring the Wenatchee National Forest road crew built about six miles of road to the top. A 1931 newspaper said the road was meant to let the lookout reach fires quickly.4 The crew held a picnic on the summit to mark the road, and the sources give June 14 and July 14 for it.4,3

Firelookout.com lists a Roy Thurman for 1923, then a run of lookouts through 1965, including Stella Yeager from 1954 to 1959 and Dave Rossing in 1965.2 A 1924 newspaper item named Mrs. Thurman as lookout patrolman, the widow of the man who had held the job the year before and died over the winter.4 No source I read ties her to the 1923 entry by name. In 1933 Swen Hansen was the lookout and reported record visitor counts, and a May 1934 item said he was to return to the post.4

The cab was gone by 1967. Firetower.org says it was removed that year, while Firelookout.com and Washington Lookouts say it was destroyed.1,2,3

None of the sources describes the summit today in detail. Washington Lookouts lists the site as a drive-up and shows a photo captioned as a directional marker pointing to a missing benchmark, but its text does not say what else is left.3

The route Washington Lookouts describes starts on Eagle Creek Road off Highway 209, just north of Leavenworth. At the end of the pavement, the author turned onto Van Creek Road (NF7520) and followed it to the ridge top, then took the Chumstick route for about eight miles to a short spur up to the top.3 He advises a high-clearance vehicle because road conditions change.3 No source I read mentions a gate, but conditions can change, so check with the Forest Service before you go. There is no lookout cab left to climb.

  1. Chumstick Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, Firetower.org, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/chumstick-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Chumstick Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/chumstick.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Chumstick Mountain Lookout Site, Washington Lookouts, willhiteweb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/chumstick_mountain_lookout/entiat_241.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Chumstick Mountain, Forest Lookouts list, Washington Lookouts (Weebly), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/chumstick-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Chumstick Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: 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. 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.