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Fire lookout · Clallam County, Washington

Ellis Mountain Lookout Site

Also known as Ellis

Clallam County ridge lookout: 1952 L-4 cab, removed 1970. Willhite's photos show an anchor bolt and battery dump at the site, reached by a gated gravel road.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1970. Willhite's photo captions show an anchor bolt and battery dump just below the site fence.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. A gate sits partway up the access road and was open on one visit. No source says whether visitors are welcome at the communications site.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Willhite's directions start at Highway 101: north on Highway 112 for 2 miles, then a dirt road west to a parking area at the top

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab; the Forestry Division annual report, as quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, calls the 1952 building a replacement 14 x 14 ground houseThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1952
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,338 ft (713 m)
Agency
Washington State Division of Forestry/DNR
Land
State land
Location
Clallam County, Washington
Coordinates
48.12944, −124.30556
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-ellis-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 4.1 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. 1952 BuiltL-4 cab on the middle ridgetop; the annual report calls it a replacement 14 x 14 ground house. Firelookout.com says it replaced an earlier lookout one mile north; unconfirmed.Sources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1958 StaffedMrs. Norman Cowan served as emergency lookout from Friday to Monday (Port Angeles Evening News, as quoted)Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1964 StaffedNewspaper item said seven lookouts would be manned in June, Ellis Mountain among them. A plan, not a confirmed season.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1970 RemovedRegister, Willhite and the Forest Lookouts page say removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1970 and 2011
  6. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterFFLOS US 1179, WA 80; registered December 20, 2011; nominated by Ray KresekSource: 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.

The Ellis Mountain lookout stood on a high ridge in Clallam County, at about 2,338 feet.1,2 The register dates its L-4 cab to 1952.3 A Forest Lookouts page quotes a Forestry Division annual report, which calls the 1952 building a replacement 14 x 14 ground house.4,1

Firelookout.com says the cab replaced an earlier lookout one mile north.2 Willhite found 1952 aerial photos that show the cleared lookout area but no structures, so an earlier lookout is unconfirmed.1

A 1958 Port Angeles Evening News item, quoted by the same Forest Lookouts page, says Mrs. Norman Cowan served as emergency lookout on Ellis Mountain from Friday to Monday that August.4 An April 1964 item said seven lookouts would be manned that June, and Ellis Mountain was one of them.4

The lookout was removed in 1970.3,4,1 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.2

Willhite's photo captions show an anchor bolt and a battery dump just below the fence of the lookout site.1 He places the lookout on a lower knob near the summit's communications station, and no source we read describes a standing structure there today.1

Public roads reach almost to the site.1 A gate sits partway up the road, and Willhite found it open on his visit.1 From the parking area at the top, he says the site is about 0.1 miles past the gate.1 His directions start at Highway 101 and run north on Highway 112.1 The sources do not say whether visitors are welcome at the communications site, so check locally before going.

  1. Mount Ellis Lookout Sites, Ellis Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/ellis_mountain_lookout/state-forest_161.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Ellis Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/ellismtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Ellis Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/ellis-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Ellis Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Washington), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/ellis.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Ellis Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout site
Lookout sitePhoto: Leslie, via 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, 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: ownership, 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

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