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Fire lookout · Pierce County, Washington

Clear West Peak Lookout Site

Pierce County, WA summit with an L-4 cab built in 1933; cab removed or destroyed in 1965 (sources differ); now a hiking summit with no remains described.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed or destroyed in 1965; sources differ on which. Summit described as the spot of a former lookout with no remains described

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. Hiking summit reached by West Fork Road (FR 74) and a 1.5-mile hike; Willhite notes the White River bridge on the approach is washed out; page is undated and no closure is described

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Hike of 1.5 miles with about 1,000 feet of gain, starting where the clear-cuts end (Willhite)

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab (Willhite describes the L-4 type as a 14x14 wood-frame cab with a hip roof)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,643 ft (1,720 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Pierce County, Washington
Coordinates
47.01233, −121.72776
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-clear-west-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 3.8 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. 1933 BuiltL-4 cab built in 1933 (Register and Willhite agree on the year)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1934 EventGeorge Clisby took panoramic photos from the cab roof on August 10, 1934Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1965
  4. 1965 RemovedRegister says removed in 1965; firelookout.com says destroyed in 1965; Willhite says thought destroyed in the mid-1960sSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1965 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered May 22, 2012 as FFLOS US 1272, WA 172; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  7. 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.

Clear West Peak is a summit in Pierce County, Washington, at 5,643 feet.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register places it in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, although one Forest Lookouts index names the Snoqualmie National Forest instead.1,2

A lookout cab went up on the peak in 1933.1,3 It was an L-4 cab, a type that a WillhiteWeb photo guide calls the most popular live-in lookout: a 14x14 wood-frame cab with a hip roof.3,4 George Clisby shot panoramas from the cab roof on August 10, 1934.3

The sources do not agree on how the cab ended. The register says it was removed in 1965, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.1,5 Willhite thinks the cab was destroyed in the mid-1960s.3

Today the summit is flat, and Willhite describes it as the site of an old lookout.3 No source we read describes any remains there.

Willhite lists the hike at 1.5 miles with about 1,000 feet of gain, and says it starts where the clear-cuts end.3 Directions: from Enumclaw, go 22 miles east on State Route 410, then turn onto West Fork Road, Forest Road 74.3 His page says the bridge over the White River is washed out. The page is undated, so check road conditions with the Forest Service before you go.3

  1. Clear West Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/clear-west-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Clear West Peak, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/clear-west-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Clear West Peak, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/clearwater_wilderness/clear_west_peak/greenwater_290.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Fire Lookout Photo Identification Guide, WillhiteWeb.com, https://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/identification_guide/west_cascades_218.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Clear West Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/clearwestpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Clear West Peak Lookout panoramic 8-10-1934 (N)
Clear West Peak Lookout panoramic 8-10-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Clear West Peak Lookout panoramic 8-10-1934 (SE)
Clear West Peak Lookout panoramic 8-10-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Clear West Peak Lookout panoramic 8-10-1934 (SW)
Clear West Peak Lookout panoramic 8-10-1934 (SW) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via 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.