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Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Domke Mountain Lookout Site

Domke Mountain above Lake Chelan: 1920 crow's nest and cabin, 1930 100-foot steel tower, gone by 1970; reached today by a Forest Service day hike.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower gone by 1970. Washington Lookouts lists the site as removed, with no date. No source describes what remains at 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. Day hike on the Domke Mountain Lookout Trail, which the Forest Service describes as a day hike from Lucerne or Domke Lake.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Reached by boat to Lucerne (about 40 miles from Chelan, or a shorter trip from Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park), then the Domke Lake Trail for just over a mile to the lookout trail junction. No camping facilities; carry water.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor steel tower built in 1930 on a site first used in 1920; a 16x20 foot log cabin was built in 1942The design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1920
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
4,121 ft (1,256 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.17776, −120.56600
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-domke-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 its recorded height.

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. 1920 BuiltCrow's nest tree platform and a log cabin for living quarters.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1927 FireLightning struck the emergency wire to Domke Lake and started several fires on the mountain; a fireman put out four and rain put out three.Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1930 Built100-foot Aermotor steel tower constructed; the log cabin may have been replaced.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1930 StaffedRoss Hall served as lookout during the summer of 1930.Source: willhiteweb.com
  5. 1942 EventAircraft Warning Service used the lookout to spot enemy aircraft, active March 27, 1942 to July 1, 1943; a 16x20 foot log cabin was built as living quarters.Sources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1942 and 1959
  7. 1959 StaffedA Gonzaga University student worked the tower; a mother bear with two cubs chased him up a tree until dark.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1970 RemovedTower gone by 1970. How it came down is not stated. Washington Lookouts lists the site as removed.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1970 and 2012
  10. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: August 22, 2012Source: FFLOS register entry
  11. 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.

Domke Mountain overlooks Lake Chelan in Chelan County, Washington.1,2 The summit's first structures, a tree platform for a crow's nest and a log cabin, date from 1920.3 In 1930 an Aermotor steel tower, 100 feet tall, went up, and the log cabin might have been swapped out.1,2,3 WillhiteWeb traces the twelve-ton steel by rail to Wenatchee, then by truck to Chelan, onto a barge, and at last by pack mules to the summit.3

During an August 1927 storm, lightning hit the line running to Domke Lake and set several fires on the mountain.4,3 A fireman put out four of them, and rain put out three more.3

Ross Hall manned the lookout through the summer of 1930.3 Jack Elliott worked several summers there in the early 1950s, after McGregor Lookout shut down.3 In 1959 a Gonzaga University student on the tower was treed by a female bear and her two cubs from late morning until dark.4

The Aircraft Warning Service watched for enemy aircraft from the summit between March 27, 1942 and July 1, 1943.1,4,3 A 16x20-foot log cabin was added as living quarters.1,3

The tower no longer stood by 1970.1,2,3 Washington Lookouts lists the site as removed, but no source says how the tower came down.4 The sources also disagree on the height: 100 feet in three of them, and 110 feet in the 1959 newspaper item.1,2,4,3

The Forest Service still lists the Domke Mountain Lookout Trail, a day hike originally cut to reach the old lookout.5 No roads connect Chelan to Lucerne, so the Forest Service describes a boat trip of about 40 miles from Chelan, or a drive to Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park and a shorter boat trip.5 From Lucerne Landing, hikers walk to the Domke Lake trailhead, then follow the Domke Lake Trail a little over a mile to the junction with the lookout trail.5 There is no camping, so hikers should carry water.5 None of the sources describes what, if anything, stands at the summit today.

  1. Domke Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/domke-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Domke Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/domke.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Domke Mountain Lookout, WillhiteWeb, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/domke_mountain_lookout/lake_chelan_105.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Domke Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Washington Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/domke-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Domke Mountain Lookout Trail, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/okanogan-wenatchee/recreation/trails/domke-mountain-lookout-trail (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Domke Mountain Lookout Site
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: height, 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.