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Fire lookout · Whatcom County, Washington

Church Mountain Lookout Site

Whatcom County, WA cupola cabin built 1927 or 1928 on a rocky summit; removed or destroyed 1966-67; only rubble remains, reached by a popular hiking trail.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cabin removed or destroyed in 1966-1967; outbuildings are now rubble

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. Popular hiking trail from the end of Forest Road 3040; no closure found in the sources read

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About 4.2 miles; WillhiteWeb warns the trail runs along a cliff edge near the end

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabCupola cabin (WillhiteWeb: D-6 cupola cabin)The design: D-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1927
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,100 ft (1,859 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Whatcom County, Washington
Coordinates
48.92697, −121.87598
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-church-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 4.0 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. 1916 EventPermanent camp for six people built near the summit by U.S. Forest rangers; not a lookoutSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1927 BuiltCupola cabin per the register and firelookout.com; WillhiteWeb dates the D-6 cupola cabin to 1928Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  3. 1936 Event125 visitors that season, per a 1936 item and WillhiteWebSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1941 StaffedSite used by A.W.S. observers in 1941 and 1942 (abbreviation not expanded in the source)Source: willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1941 and 1967
  6. 1967 DestroyedRegister says removed in 1967; firelookout.com says destroyed in 1967; WillhiteWeb says destroyed in 1966 or 1967Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1967 and 2012
  8. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 25, 2012 as FFLOS US 1232; nominated by Ray KresekSource: 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.

Church Mountain Lookout stood on a rocky summit in Whatcom County, Washington, inside the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.1,2 The sources disagree about when the cabin went up. The register and firelookout.com both give 1927 for a cupola cabin,1,3 while WillhiteWeb says a D-6 cupola cabin was built in 1928.2

Before the cabin, U.S. Forest rangers built a camp for six people near the summit in 1916.4,2 A July 1916 item from The Lynden Tribune, quoted by Forest Lookouts, says the camp was available to people who wanted to stay the night on the mountain.4

The sources name very few people. WillhiteWeb says the site was used by "A.W.S." observers in 1941 and 1942, and it does not spell out the abbreviation.2 Forest Lookouts also lists a Bellingham Filter Center active from March 28, 1942 to October 16, 1943, but the page does not say how that relates to this site.4 Visitors came in numbers in the 1930s. A 1936 item counted 125 visitors that season,4,2 and WillhiteWeb says hundreds came each year through that decade.2

The cabin was gone by 1967. The register says it was removed that year,1 firelookout.com says it was destroyed,3 and WillhiteWeb dates the loss to 1966 or 1967.2 The outhouse and storage shed lasted until about the turn of the century, and today they are reduced to rubble.2

We found no source that describes a standing structure today. WillhiteWeb reports little sign of a building at the lookout site, though cables and metal parts hang from the cliffs just below it on several sides.2 A survey note quoted by Forest Lookouts places a survey station on a peak a little south of the lookout.4

The hike is popular.2 WillhiteWeb describes a trail of 4.2 miles that starts at a parking area at the end of Forest Road 3040, and it warns that the trail runs along a cliff edge near the end.2 We found no closure notice for the trail or the summit, so the site appears open to hikers, though no source confirms its legal status.

  1. Church Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/church-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Church Mountain Trail & Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/church_mountain_trail/fire_lookout_350.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Church Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/churchmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Church Mountain, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/church-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Church 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.