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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Funk Mountain Lookout

Okanogan NF lookout near Conconully: 1914 tree platform, 1943 L-4 cab on 40 ft tower, NHLR-registered 2000. Sources disagree on 2021 fire damage to the crow's nest.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. 2017 visitor: public access allowed, but catwalk missing many planks and stairs missing steps; keep-out sign at top of stairs. Summit road gated at times; walk to summit is 1.9 miles from the gate.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Driving to the summit is possible if the gate is open and the vehicle is high-clearance; otherwise hike 1.9 miles. The 2017 account describes unsafe stairs and catwalk.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab with catwalk on a 40-foot treated timber tower; earlier L-5 ground cab added 1935The designs: L-4, L-5
Built of
Wood
Built
1914
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
5,070 ft (1,545 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.59970, −119.74340
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-funk-mountain

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

Downloads about 4.5 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. 1914 BuiltTree platform first established; NHLR and firelookout.com date the start to 1914Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, trailchick.com
  2. No record between 1914 and 1935
  3. 1935 AlteredGround L-5 cab addedSource: nhlr.org
  4. 1943 BuiltSource: firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page
  5. 1943 Replaced by a new structureCurrent L-4 cab with catwalk placed on a 40-foot treated timber towerSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, trailchick.com
  6. 1952 StaffedKnown lookout personnel: Mabel GavinSource: firelookout.com
  7. 1957 StaffedMrs. Harry A. Gavin of Omak completed a 99-day season; 1,171 total days as lookout; eleven summersSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1960 StaffedAward to Mrs. Mabel M. Gavin for thirteen seasons as lookout on Funk MountainSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1966 StaffedNewspaper report that the lookout is mannedSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1966 and 2000
  11. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterNHLR registration date November 8, 2000 as US 361, WA 42Source: nhlr.org
  12. 2000 StaffedReturned to service by Okanogan National Forest after sporadic use; staffed full time in 2000Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, trailchick.com
  13. No record between 2000 and 2021
  14. 2021 FireMuckamuck fire, started August 4, burned around the summit. Sources disagree on whether the tower and the crow's nest survived.Sources: trailchick.com, okanogancountry.com
  15. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Funk Mountain sits about three miles north of Conconully, in the Okanogan National Forest.1,2 A tree platform went up on its summit in 1914.1,2 A ground cab followed in 1935, and the cab that stands today, an L-4 with a catwalk, replaced it in 1943 on a 40-foot treated timber tower.1,2

A woman named Mabel Gavin appears in the records as one of the mountain's lookouts.2 A 1957 newspaper item said that Mrs. Harry A. Gavin of Omak had put in eleven summers, mostly on Funk Mountain, and had served 1,171 days in the job.3 A 1960 award citation named Mabel M. Gavin and thirteen seasons on the mountain.3 The two items appear to describe the same woman, and a 1952 listing also names Mabel Gavin.2,3 In 1966 a paper reported the lookout was manned, and advised visitors to walk the last half mile because the road was rough.3

The lookout was returned to service in 2000 after years of sporadic use, and it was staffed full time that year.1,2,4 It has been used for emergency detection in summer.2

In August 2021 the Muckamuck fire burned all the way around the summit.4 One account says the lookout survived but that the 1914 crow's nest did not.4 Another says the tower narrowly escaped the fire and makes no mention of the crow's nest.5

A 2017 visitor said the public may still go up, though many catwalk planks and several stair steps were gone. A sign at the top of the stairs warns people to keep out.4 When the summit road is gated, the walk to the top is 1.9 miles.4 The most detailed account in the sources is from 2017, so check current conditions with the Okanogan National Forest before planning a trip.4

  1. Funk Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/funk-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Funk Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/funk.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Funk Mountain, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/funk-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Funk Mountain Lookout, TrailChick, https://trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/funk-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Funk Mountain, Okanogan Country, https://okanogancountry.com/poi/funk-mountain (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Funk Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
October 2025 photo
October 2025 photo (2025)Photo: E Cooper, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Funk Mtn. in 1935
Funk Mtn. in 1935 (1935)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Funk Mtn. crow's nest
Funk Mtn. crow's nestPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Funk Mtn. L.O.
Funk Mtn. L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Funk Mountain Lookout
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: design, dates, photos, 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. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: photos, links TrailChick (trailchick.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, coordinates, elevation, lookout type, years built). The guide's text is not reproduced; its card photos are listed with credit to TrailChick, for the project's photo mirroring. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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

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