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Fire lookout · Whatcom County, Washington

Dillard Point Lookout Site

Whatcom Co., WA 20-ft treated timber tower with R-6 cab, built 1962 on Dillard Point; removed or destroyed in 1981, with footings and an outhouse still reported on site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1981 per the register, FireLookout.com, WillhiteWeb and Washington Lookouts. WillhiteWeb reports footings, an outhouse, and wiring and posts on the site; the site is said to be completely grown over.

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. Reached over Baker Lake Road and forest roads 12 and 13, then a 0.7-mile walk along an old road. WillhiteWeb notes one major washout and says the road may have been abandoned for good. No closure is recorded in the sources, and the road account dates to about 2014.

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Park where an old road leaves FR 13, then follow the old road 0.7 miles to a large opening with a high gravel embankment; the lookout is just above it.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower20-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 flat cabThe design: R-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1962
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
2,400 ft (732 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Whatcom County, Washington
Coordinates
48.68165, −121.73991
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-dillard-point

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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 4.3 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. 1961 EventJune 29, 1961 Marysville Globe item: a lookout house and tower to be constructed in the Baker River drainage. Quoted by Washington Lookouts; the register and FireLookout.com date the build to 1962.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1962 Built20-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab, per the register, FireLookout.com and WillhiteWeb.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. No record between 1962 and 1981
  4. 1981 RemovedRemoved per the register and Washington Lookouts. FireLookout.com and WillhiteWeb say destroyed in 1981.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1981 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 26, 2012 as FFLOS US 1238.Source: 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.

Dillard Point stood at about 2,400 feet in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, roughly seven miles southeast of Mount Baker in Whatcom County.1,2 A June 1961 Marysville Globe item, quoted by Washington Lookouts, announced a planned lookout house and tower for the Baker River drainage.3 The register and FireLookout.com date the tower to 1962 and describe a 20-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 flat cab.1,2

The register says the tower was removed in 1981, and Washington Lookouts gives the same year for its removal.1,3 FireLookout.com and WillhiteWeb call it destroyed that year.2,4 The register listed the site in March 2012 as US 1238.1

According to WillhiteWeb, the site has grown over entirely and offers no views.4 Its remains are spread over a wide area: an outhouse at the north end, footings and picnic tables at the south, and communications wiring and posts in between.4

Drive east from Sedro-Woolley on the North Cascades Highway (Highway 20) for 14.5 miles, then turn onto Baker Lake Road. Follow it about 12.5 miles, then take forest roads 12 and 13.4 Park where an old road peels off to the right. The site lies 0.7 miles along that road, which the guide found manageable on foot as of 2014.4 The guide also reports one major washout, which may explain why the road was given up for good.4 No source records a closure.1,2,3,4

  1. Dillard Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/dillard-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Dillard Point Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/dillardpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Dillard Point, Forest Lookouts, Washington Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/dillard-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Dillard Point Lookout (Baker Lake Viewpoint), WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington/fire_lookouts/dillard_point_lookout/baker_lake_214.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Dillard Point Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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.

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, height, 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.