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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Doe Mountain Lookout Site

Okanogan County peak 7,154 ft: a wooden L-4 tower built 1935, gone by 1952. A hiker's undated trip report describes summit benchmarks and small remnants.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The cab was gone by 1952, per the register, FireLookout.com and the Willhite guide. No source describes a structure on the summit today.

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. Cross-country from the end of Forest Road 170 (a downed tree about a mile up the road), per a hiker's trip report. No closure appears in the sources read.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
No maintained trail. A hiker's route runs up Forest Road 100 and FR-170, then cross-country up the southeast ridge. No tower remains to climb.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerWooden tower with an L-4 cab. The register and FireLookout.com say 6 ft; a Willhite note puts the 1936 photo roof 15 ft above groundThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1935
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,154 ft (2,181 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.72497, −120.18761
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-doe-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 4.2 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. 1935 BuiltWooden L-4 tower with a cab built, per the register, FireLookout.com and the Willhite guideSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1936 EventPanoramic photos taken July 25, 1936; the Willhite guide says they were taken on the roof, 15 feet above the groundSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1936 and 1952
  4. 1952 EventCab gone by 1952; the sources do not say howSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1952 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 11, 2012 as US 1442, WA 342Source: firetower.org
  7. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Doe Mountain is a 7,154-foot peak about 18 miles north of Winthrop, in Okanogan County, Washington.1,2 The register places the site in the Okanogan National Forest.1

A wooden L-4 tower with a cab was built on the mountain in 1935.1,3 The register and FireLookout.com both call the tower a 6-foot structure.1,2 A Willhite note on the 1936 panoramic photos says they were taken on the roof, 15 feet above the ground, so the sources do not agree on the height.3 Panorama photos are dated July 25, 1936.4,1

The cab was gone by 1952, according to the register, FireLookout.com and the Willhite guide.1,2,3

A hiker's trip report describes the approach. The author drove up the West Chewuch to Forest Road 100, then on FR-170, where a downed tree marks the end of the road a little over a mile up.5 From there the hike went cross-country up the southeast ridge.5 On the summit the author found the summit benchmarks, along with debris that looked like melted lead glass, a few ceramic insulators, and small pieces of hardware such as hinges and nails.5 No source we read describes a foundation or other structure on the summit today.1,5

  1. Doe Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/doe-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Doe Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/doemtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Doe Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/doe_mountain_lookout/winthrup_119.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Doe Mountain, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/doe-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Doe and Ike Mountains, TrailChick, https://trailchick.com/doe-and-ike-mountains/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Doe Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-25-1936 (N)
Doe Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-25-1936 (N) (1936)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Doe Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-25-1936 (SE)
Doe Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-25-1936 (SE) (1936)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Doe Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-25-1936 (SW)
Doe Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-25-1936 (SW) (1936)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.