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Fire lookout · Lewis County, Washington

Cispus Mountain Lookout Site

Cispus Mountain lookout in Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Lewis County, Washington; burned in 1956 per three sources, dismantled per the register; site reached by Trail #127.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Three sources say it burned in 1956; the register says it was dismantled, with some lumber burned on 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. Trail #127 is open to hikers, horses and bicycles and closed to motorized use

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Short spur off Klickitat Trail #7, above Jackpot Lake; the Forest Service trail page describes it as the former site of a fire lookout

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabR-5 or 4A variation, 14 by 14 ft wooden cab with hip roofThe design: D-5 (4-AR)
Built of
Wood
Built
1926
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,656 ft (1,724 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lewis County, Washington
Coordinates
46.47176, −121.71676
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-cispus-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 3.7 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. 1915 EventSite used from 1915 with only a firefinder stand on the peakSource: firetower.org
  2. 1926 BuiltRegister and SummitPost give 1926 for the cab; firelookout.com gives 1925; Forest Lookouts gives 1928 for a structureSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1926 and 1956
  4. 1956 BurnedBurned when no longer needed, per SummitPost, firelookout.com and Forest Lookouts; the register says the cab was dismantledSources: firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, summitpost.org
  5. No record between 1956 and 1982
  6. 1982 EventWindow frames, cabinets, hip roof sections and lumber found below the peakSource: firetower.org
  7. No record between 1982 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 17, 2011Source: 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.

From 1915 to 1926 the Cispus Mountain site, in Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Lewis County, Washington, held only a firefinder stand on its peak.1 The register describes the cab that came later as an R-5 or 4A variation, a 14-by-14-foot wooden building with a hip roof.1

Sources disagree on the year the cab went up. The register and SummitPost say 1926, firelookout.com says 1925 for a live-in cabin, and a Forest Lookouts page says a structure was erected in 1928.1,2,3,4

Most sources say fire destroyed the cab in 1956, after it had fallen out of use.2,3,4 The register tells a different story. Citing an archaeological report, it says the lookout was dismantled, that some of its lumber went into a small cabin north of the peak, and that part of the lumber left behind was burned.1 Finds from 1982 below the peak included window frames, cabinets and sections of hip roof.1

The Forest Service's Trail #127 leads to the former lookout site on Cispus Point, a brief branch from Klickitat Trail #7 above Jackpot Lake.5 Hikers, horse riders and cyclists may use the trail, which is closed to motorized travel.5 SummitPost describes a brief, undemanding walk with vistas of Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helens and Mount Hood.4

Forest Road 20, reached from Highway 12, leads to the trailhead, and a 2016 SummitPost account says the road was rough and washed out in places.4

No source we read describes what stands on the peak now, beyond the 1982 finds below it.1

  1. Cispus Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/cispus-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Cispus Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, Fire Lookout, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/cispusmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Cispus Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Washington), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/cispus-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Cispus Mountain, SummitPost, https://www.summitpost.org/cispus-mountain/974391 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Trail #127 Cispus Lookout, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/giffordpinchot/recreation/trails/trail-127-cispus-lookout (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Cispus Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Cispus 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. 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

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