FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Gibraltar Rock Lookout Site

Also known as Gibralter Rock

L-4 cab built 1935 in Pend Oreille County; removed or destroyed in the 1960s; a 2021 visit found footings on private timber land.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. Private timber company land per Willhite's 2021 visit. No gate was found, which does not establish permission to enter.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in the 1960s; sources disagree on which. Willhite's 2021 visit found footings and steps near the lookout site, not a standing cab.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Willhite lists a hiking distance of 200 feet and 50 feet of elevation gain from the parking area. The land is private, so ask the owner before visiting.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,793 ft (851 m)
Agency
Kaniksu/Colville National Forests (per firelookout.com)
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.39355, −117.27286
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-gibraltar-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 3.7 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 BuiltL-4 cab built in 1935 per the register, firelookout.com and WillhiteSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1935 and 2012
  3. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 14, 2012 on the Former Fire Lookout Sites registerSource: firetower.org
  4. Date unknown Destroyed1960s, decade only. firelookout.com says destroyed, which conflicts with the 'removed' wording above.Source: firelookout.com
  5. Date unknown Removed1960s, decade only. Register and Willhite say removed; the Washington lookouts index also says removed.Sources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Gibraltar Rock is a former lookout site in Pend Oreille County, Washington, about 18 miles northwest of Newport.1 Firelookout.com lists the Kaniksu and Colville National Forests, but Willhite now describes the land as private timber company property.1,2

The lookout was an L-4 cab, built in 1935.3,1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register describes the L-4 as a 14-by-14-foot frame cab that could be mounted on a tall tower.4

Sources disagree on how the cab left the site. Firetower.org and Willhite say it was removed in the 1960s, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed in the 1960s.3,1,2 The Washington lookouts index also marks the site as removed.5

The site was added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on December 14, 2012.3

Willhite's photos show footings, steps near the lookout site, and a footing with some wood still attached.2 His photo captions also describe views southwest and west over the Pend Oreille River.2

The land is private timber company property, and Willhite drove to the summit in 2021 because no gate was there.2 An open gate is not the same as permission to enter, so ask the owner before you go.

  1. Gibraltar Rock Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/gibraltarrock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Gibraltar Rock Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/gibraltar_rock/lookout_177.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Gibraltar Rock Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/gibraltar-rock-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Definitions, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/definitions/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Gibraltar Rock, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/gibraltar-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Gibraltar Rock 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, 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.