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Fire lookout · Yakima County, Washington

Edgar Rock Lookout Site

Wenatchee National Forest rock with an L-5 ground cab built about 1933 and removed or destroyed about 1951; bolts and remnants reported on top; reached by a 2-mile trail.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed or destroyed around 1951; WillhiteWeb reports bolts and remnants still on top of the rock

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. Hiking trail reached from Highway 410 on Wenatchee National Forest land; no closure or permission requirement described

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About 2 miles up with 1,300 ft of gain from a trailhead on Lost Creek Road (Lost Creek Trail 964); parking for 2-3 vehicles

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-5 ground cab overlooking the Cliffdell summer homesThe design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,600 ft (1,097 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Wenatchee National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Yakima County, Washington
Coordinates
46.93040, −121.06222
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-edgar-rock

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 4.1 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. 1933 BuiltRegister says built in 1933; WillhiteWeb says built around 1933Sources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1942 EventWillhiteWeb photo captioned as the Edgar Rock lookout in 1942Source: willhiteweb.com
  3. 1951 DestroyedWillhiteWeb says destroyed around 1951; Fire Lookout says destroyed in the 1950sSources: willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  4. 1951 RemovedRegister says the cab was removed in 1951; Forest Lookouts lists it as removedSources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1951 and 2011
  6. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterFFLOS US 832, WA 40, registered February 2, 2011Source: 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.

Edgar Rock is a rocky outcrop in the Wenatchee National Forest, in Yakima County, Washington.1,2 A Forest Service lookout once stood on top of it, a ground cab above the Cliffdell summer homes.1,2 The Register dates the cab to 1933, and WillhiteWeb says it was built around that year.1,2 A WillhiteWeb photo is captioned as the lookout in 1942.2 The sources give the summit's elevation as 3,600 feet in one place and 3,680 feet in another.1,2

We found no source that names anyone who staffed the lookout, or any fire it watched.

The Register says the cab was removed in 1951.1 WillhiteWeb says it was destroyed around that year, and Fire Lookout says it was destroyed in the 1950s.2,3 Forest Lookouts lists it only as removed.4

WillhiteWeb reports that fasteners and leftover pieces from the lookout remain on the summit, and that the rock still commands the views a lookout would have had.2 The site is reached by a trail about two miles long that climbs 1,300 feet.2 From Highway 410, the directions turn onto Jefferson Road and then Lost Creek Road, where the trailhead has parking for two or three vehicles.2 No source we read gives a recent condition report, so check with the Naches Ranger District before you go.

  1. Edgar Rock Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/edgar-rock-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Edgar Rock Lookout Site - Naches Ranger District, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/edgar_rock_lookout/cliffdell_naches_377.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Edgar Rock Fire Lookout Cabin, Fire Lookout, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/edgarrock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Edgar Rock - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/edgar-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Edgar Rock Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
9/20/1996
9/20/1996 (1996)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
9/20/1996
9/20/1996 (1996)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
9/20/1996
9/20/1996 (1996)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Looking down toward Cliffdel 9/20/1996
Looking down toward Cliffdel 9/20/1996 (1996)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, 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.