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Fire lookout · Yakima County, Washington

Darland Mountain Lookout Site

Wenatchee NF summit in Yakima County: a 1925 cupola cabin, then a 42-foot L-4 tower (1934 or 1935) removed in 1966; photo captions label footings and a drive-up road.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in 1966 per the register and Willhite; firelookout.com says destroyed. Willhite's photo captions label tower footings.

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 per Willhite: Ahtanum Road from Yakama into Ahtanum State Forest, passable until the last two miles. The summit sits where National Forest, state forest and Yakama Nation land meet, so check ownership before going.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
No tower stands to climb. Hiking books suggest walking the last part from Clover Flats campground, a distance of 2 miles, per Willhite.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower42-foot wooden tower with an L-4 cab, replacing a D-6 cupola cabin built in 1925The designs: L-4, D-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1925
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,981 ft (2,128 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Yakima County, Washington
Coordinates
46.51380, −121.20988
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-darland-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 3.9 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. 1925 BuiltD-6 cupola cabin constructedSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1935 Replaced by a new structureThe 42-foot wooden L-4 tower replaced the cupola, per the register and firelookout.com. Willhite dates the tower to 1934.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1942 MovedThe old cupola was trucked to the Blue Slide lookout siteSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1942 and 1958
  5. 1958 StaffedJuanita Ward left for Darland Mountain to spend the summer at the lookout station, per a July 3, 1958 Goldendale Sentinel item quoted by WillhiteSource: willhiteweb.com
  6. 1960 StaffedA September 1, 1960 Goldendale Sentinel item, quoted by Willhite, describes a young woman attending the lookout who spent her winters in Ellensburg attending collegeSource: willhiteweb.com
  7. 1966 RemovedThe register and Willhite say the L-4 tower was removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. No record between 1966 and 2012
  9. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered July 19, 2012 as FFLOS US 1360, WA 260Source: 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.

Darland Mountain rises in Yakima County, Washington, in the Wenatchee National Forest, about 34 miles west-southwest of the city of Yakima.1,2

A D-6 cupola cabin was built on the summit in 1925.1,3 The register and firelookout.com both say a 42-foot wooden tower with an L-4 cab replaced the cupola in 1935.1,2 Willhite dates that tower to 1934, so the year is in dispute.3 The cupola was trucked to the Blue Slide lookout site in 1942.1,3

Newspaper items that Willhite quotes place people at the lookout in 1958 and 1960.3 A July 1958 Goldendale Sentinel item reports that Juanita Ward was headed to Darland Mountain for the summer.3 A September 1960 item describes the young woman then attending the lookout as a college student who wintered in Ellensburg.3

The tower was removed in 1966. The register and Willhite both say so.1,3 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year instead.2 The Washington lookout list marks the site as gone.4

Today, Willhite's photo captions label "tower footings" and an "unknown footing" at the site.3 Forest Lookouts lists the lookout as removed.5

Getting there is a drive. Willhite says the summit is drive-up, reached by taking Ahtanum Road from Yakama into Ahtanum State Forest. The road is passable until the last two miles, and hiking books suggest walking the last part from Clover Flats campground, a 2-mile walk.3 Willhite also notes the summit sits where National Forest, state forest and Yakama Nation land meet, so check who owns the ground before you go.3

  1. Darland Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/darland-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Darland Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/darland.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Darland Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/darland_mountain_lookout/ahtanum_state_forest_241.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Washington lookouts list, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wa/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Darland Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/darland-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Darland Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1942
1942 (1942)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, staffing, 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.