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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Driveway Butte Lookout Site

Okanogan County, WA: 1931 cupola cabin and 1938 L-4 tower, both destroyed in 1953; footings and nails remain on a signed 4.3-mile trail.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Both structures destroyed in 1953; WTA and Willhite describe tower footings and nails still on the site

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. Signed trailhead off Highway 20 near Klipchuck Campground; WTA lists it as a hiking trail. The sources read mention no closure.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
WTA: 8.6 miles round trip; the lookout site is 4.3 miles from the trailhead. The trail passes the aftermath of the 2003 Needle Creek Fire.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower1931 slant-walled cupola cabin, then a 30-foot treated timber L-4 tower in 1938The designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,982 ft (1,823 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Okanogan National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.63431, −120.53278
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-driveway-butte

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 4.4 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. 1931 BuiltSlant-walled cupola cabin; firelookout.com says it was first atop a 15-foot pole towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1931 EventJuly 1931 Wenatchee paper: Ed Allen and Raymond Johnson building another lookout tower and houseSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1932 StaffedBob Watkins was the lookout (Willhite)Source: willhiteweb.com
  4. 1933 StaffedDon Watkins, ranger at the lookout, busy decorating his tower house (Wenatchee paper, via Forest Lookouts)Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1934 EventPanoramic images taken from 43 feet above the groundSource: willhiteweb.com
  6. 1938 Built30-foot treated timber L-4 tower; WTA says built to improve the visual coverageSources: firelookout.com, wta.org
  7. No record between 1938 and 1953
  8. 1953 DestroyedBoth structures destroyed; the Register says the cupola cabin was removed that yearSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  9. No record between 1953 and 2012
  10. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 11, 2012 as US 1444, WA 344Source: firetower.org
  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.

Driveway Butte rises in the Okanogan National Forest, about 20 miles northwest of Winthrop.1 Willhite says the name comes from an old cattle or sheep drive.2

A slant-walled cupola cabin went up on the butte in 1931.3,1,4 Firelookout.com says it was first set atop a 15-foot pole tower.1 That July, a Wenatchee paper reported that Ed Allen and Raymond Johnson were building another lookout tower and house there.5

In 1938 a 30-foot treated timber L-4 tower came after the cabin.1 WTA says the 1938 tower was built for wider sightlines.4

Bob Watkins was the lookout in 1932.2 In 1933 a Wenatchee paper described Don Watkins as ranger at the lookout, busy decorating the inside of his tower house.5

Both structures were destroyed in 1953.2,1,4 The Register instead says the cupola cabin was removed that year.3

Today, WTA describes what remains as mostly tower foundations and rusty nails, along with a reference point marked by an arrow and a benchmark.4 Willhite's photo captions point to two footings and part of the cupola still at the site.2

The route starts at a signed trailhead off Highway 20, near the Klipchuck Campground.2 The site is a hike, not a drive-up.4 WTA gives 8.6 miles round trip, with the lookout site 4.3 miles from the trailhead, and says all or part of the trip can be done from late March through November.4 Willhite lists the hike as 4 miles, a little shorter than WTA's 4.3-mile figure.2 The trail passes through the aftermath of the 2003 Needle Creek Fire.4

  1. Driveway Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/drivewaybutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Driveway Butte Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/driveway_butte_lookout/cascades_091.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Driveway Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/driveway-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Driveway Butte, Washington Trails Association, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/driveway-butte (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Driveway Butte - Forest Lookouts, Washington forest lookouts website, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/driveway-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Driveway Butte 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, 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.