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Fire lookout · Whatcom County, Washington

Easy Ridge Lookout Site

Easy Ridge L-5 lookout cab, Whatcom County WA, built 1934 or 1935, never staffed after construction, and gone by about 1973; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Burned, removed or destroyed about 1973 (sources differ); no source describes remains at the site today

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Reached on foot: Hannegan Pass, then the Chilliwack River and the Easy Ridge trail; a 2005 trip report says the trail is not maintained

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-5 cab on the northern point of Easy RidgeThe design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,640 ft (1,719 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Whatcom County, Washington
Coordinates
48.89614, −121.43147
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-easy-ridge

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 BuiltFFLOS and firelookout.com give 1935; Willhite gives 1934 (see resolved_conflicts)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1935 EventPanorama photos taken in late September 1935 (September 26 per washingtonlookouts)Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. No record between 1935 and 1973
  4. 1973 BurnedWillhite says burned down; FFLOS says removed; firelookout.com and the NPS appendix say destroyed, the NPS about 1973Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1973 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 26, 2012 (FFLOS US 1240)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.

Easy Ridge carried an L-5 lookout cab on the northern point of the ridge, in Whatcom County within the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.1,2 The register and firelookout.com date it to 1935, while Willhite gives 1934.1,3,4 Panorama photos were taken in late September 1935.2,4

No one was ever posted to the cab after it was built, though it was used in emergencies.1,4 In 1942 the Aircraft Warning Service looked at putting it to use and decided against it.4

It was gone by about 1973.1,3,4,5 Willhite says it burned down that year, the register says it was removed, and a National Park Service appendix gives its destruction as around 1973.4,1,5

No source describes a standing structure or any remains at the site today.1,3,2,4,5,6 A 2005 trip report describes a trail that climbs from the Chilliwack River to the former lookout site, and says the route is not maintained.6 Willhite had not visited the site when he wrote his page.4

  1. Easy Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/easy-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Easy Ridge - Forest Lookouts, Washington Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/easy-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Easy Ridge Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/easyridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Easy Ridge Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/easy_ridge_lookout/north_cascades_055.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. North Cascades NP: Historic Resource Study (Appendix), National Park Service via npshistory.com, https://npshistory.com/publications/noca/hrs/app2.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  6. Easy Ridge trip report, Washington Trails Association, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/tripreport-2005071612 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Easy Ridge 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, status, agency, 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.