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Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Estes Butte Lookout Site

Wenatchee NF lookout at 5,397 ft: L-4 cab from 1933, tower removed or destroyed 1969. WTA says the trail is closed until further notice for the Little Giant Fire.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. The WTA listing says the trail is closed until further notice because of the Little Giant Fire (note dated 7.30.26).

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed or destroyed in 1969. No source we read describes what remains at the summit.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Trailhead at the northeast corner of the first loop in Rock Creek Horse Camp; 8.4 miles round trip per WTA; closed as of the WTA note

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab first used in 1933; sources disagree on whether the 40-foot L-4 tower dates from 1933 or 1950The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
5,397 ft (1,645 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Wenatchee National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.01892, −120.79240
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-estes-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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 4.0 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 BuiltL-4 cab first used on the lookout; Willhite says it stood on a 40-foot towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1933 StaffedBud Ault listed as the Estes lookout-fireman in June 1933Sources: firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. No record between 1933 and 1950
  4. 1950 Replaced by a new structureRegister and firelookout.com say a 40-foot L-4 tower replaced the cab; Willhite says a new L-4 tower may have been built. The 1933 Leavenworth Echo item places a 40-foot tower in 1933.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1950 and 1965
  6. 1965 Last staffedGlenn Knutson was the lookout; Willhite marks 1965 as the last season staffedSource: willhiteweb.com
  7. 1969 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com and Willhite say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. No record between 1969 and 2012
  9. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterFFLOS US 1401, WA 301; registered October 20, 2012; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  10. 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 Estes Butte lookout stood at 5,397 feet in the Wenatchee National Forest, in Chelan County.1 The register says the first lookout was an L-4 cab, used from 1933, and that a 40-foot L-4 tower replaced it in 1950.1,2

Willhite gives a different order.3 He says an L-4 cab went up on a 40-foot tower in 1933, and that a new L-4 tower may have been built in 1950.3 A 1933 Leavenworth Echo item, quoted by a Forest Lookouts page, describes a lookout house on a 40-foot tower that June.4 The sources disagree on the tower's date, and this story does not settle it.1,2,3

Bud Ault was listed as the Estes lookout-fireman in June 1933.2,4,3 Glenn Knutson held the lookout in 1965, the last season Willhite records as staffed.3

The register says the tower was removed in 1969.1 Firelookout.com and Willhite say it was destroyed that year.2,3

The Washington Trails Association says the trail's views come from a former lookout site.5 Its listing, in a note dated July 30, 2026, says the trail is closed until further notice because of the Little Giant Fire.5 No source we read describes what remains at the summit today.

The WTA route starts at the Rock Creek Horse Camp and reaches the lookout at 4.1 miles, or 8.4 miles round trip.5 Check the closure before you plan a trip.

  1. Estes Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/estes-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Estes Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/estesbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Estes Butte Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/estes_butte_lookout/tower_094.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Estes Butte, Forest Lookouts (Washington), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/estes-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Estes Butte, Washington Trails Association, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/estes-butte (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Estes Butte 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, 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.