FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Whatcom County, Washington

Copper Mountain Lookout

A 1932/1934 Forest Service L-4 lookout in North Cascades National Park, transferred to NPS in 1968 and still staffed each summer, reached only by a 10-mile trail.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Active staffed NPS lookout reached only by a 10-mile trail; not a public rental.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
10-mile trail, per NHLR.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 ground cabin, 14.25 x 14.25 ft, no catwalkThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,260 ft (1,908 m)
Agency
National Park Service (originally U.S. Forest Service, Mount Baker National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Whatcom County, Washington
Coordinates
48.90833, −121.46167
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-copper-mountain

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

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. 1932 BuiltNHLR dates construction to 1932.Source: nhlr.org
  2. 1934 BuiltNRHP/Wikipedia dates the current structure to 1934.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  3. 1943 EventStaffed in winter 1943 by the Aircraft Warning Service to watch for enemy aircraft.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  4. No record between 1943 and 1968
  5. 1968 EventNorth Cascades National Park created; area and lookout transferred from Forest Service to NPS.Source: nhlr.org
  6. No record between 1968 and 1989
  7. 1989 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesAdded to the National Register of Historic Places February 10, 1989.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  8. 1998 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered per NHLR detail page: May 20, 1998Source: NHLR register entry
  9. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Copper Mountain Lookout sits deep in what is now North Cascades National Park, surrounded by jagged peaks and broken glaciers. The U.S. Forest Service built it in the early 1930s as a Mount Baker National Forest lookout and wilderness guard station; the National Historic Lookout Register dates construction to 1932, while the National Register of Historic Places dates the current building to 1934, a common split between an earlier post and the structure still standing today.1,2 It's a classic L-4 ground cabin, 14.25 feet square, with a shingled gable roof, prominent lightning rods, and large windows protected by awning-style shutters on each side.2

The lookout was staffed every summer as both a fire lookout and a backcountry guard post, and during the winter of 1943 the Aircraft Warning Service used it to watch for enemy aircraft, a wartime duty shared by many remote lookouts of that era.2,3 When North Cascades National Park was created in 1968, the Forest Service transferred the entire area, Copper Mountain included, to the National Park Service, which has kept it staffed each summer since.1 It's one of only three Forest Service-era lookouts still standing within the park.2

Copper Mountain was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 10, 1989, and also carries a National Historic Lookout Register listing.2,3 It sits well off the beaten path: the NHLR notes it's reachable only by a ten-mile trail, reflecting the remote, glacier-ringed terrain the lookout was built to watch over.1 Because it remains an active NPS lookout staffed in summer, it isn't available as a public rental, and visitors should check current conditions and access rules with North Cascades National Park before attempting the approach.

  1. Copper Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/copper-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Copper Mountain Fire Lookout, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Mountain_Fire_Lookout (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Copper Mountain Lookout, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/copper.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Copper Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
March 2010
March 2010 (2010)Photo: John Scurlock, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Copper Mtn. L.O.
Copper Mtn. L.OPhoto: Jennifer M. Weldon and Bob Pfeifer, via firelookout.com · source
Copper Mtn. L.O.
Copper Mtn. L.OPhoto: Jennifer M. Weldon and Bob Pfeifer, via firelookout.com · source
Copper Mtn. L.O.
Copper Mtn. L.OPhoto: Jennifer M. Weldon and Bob Pfeifer, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Copper Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Park Service, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · source
Photo of Copper Mountain Lookout
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1932
    • Wikidata: 1934
    • OpenStreetMap: 1932
    • TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts: 1932

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: design, ownership, staffing, dates, photos, 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. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: register numbers, photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: what it is built of, register numbers, access, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: photos, links TrailChick (trailchick.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, coordinates, elevation, lookout type, years built). The guide's text is not reproduced; its card photos are listed with credit to TrailChick, for the project's photo mirroring. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  8. 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
  9. 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.