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Fire lookout · Whatcom County, Washington

Goat Mountain Lookout Site

Whatcom County, WA: a 20-foot L-4 lookout built about 1934 on Mount Baker-Snoqualmie NF; abandoned in 1956 per two sources; footings reportedly remain on an unsigned trail.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower no longer there; a lookout-history website reports, from an undated visit, that all four footings and an anchor point remain

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. Reached by an unsigned, unmaintained trail past the Mount Baker Wilderness sign; no closure is described in the sources read

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
An unsigned trail switchbacks to the right a few minutes past the Mount Baker Wilderness sign, at about 3,800 feet; about three-quarters of a mile on an unmaintained route to the rocky knoll where the lookout once stood

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower20-foot tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
4,115 ft (1,254 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Whatcom County, Washington
Coordinates
48.90581, −121.64719
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-goat-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 its recorded height.

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. 1934 Built20-foot tower with L-4 cab; WillhiteWeb says it was likely built by the CCCSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1956
  3. 1956 AbandonedAbandoned in 1956 per firetower.org and firelookout.com; WillhiteWeb says sources differ between 1956 abandonment and removal around 1963Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1963 RemovedAlternative account in WillhiteWeb only: removed around 1963Source: willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1963 and 2020
  6. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 2, 2020 as US 1960, WA 460; nominated by Tammy McLeodSource: 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 Goat Mountain lookout site is in Whatcom County, Washington, on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.1,2 A 20-foot tower with an L-4 cab went up on the site in 1934.1,3,4 A lookout-history website says it was likely built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.4

Two sources say the lookout was abandoned in 1956.1,3 The lookout-history website says the sources it found differ, giving either 1956 for abandonment or about 1963 for removal.4

An undated visit reported on the same website found that all four footings and at least one anchor point remain, along with the usual rusty nails, hinges and glass.4 Several telephone line insulators are also found beside the main trail, on the climb up.4

Getting there takes a hike. The lookout-history website describes an unsigned, unmaintained trail that switchbacks to the right a few minutes past the Mount Baker Wilderness sign, at about 3,800 feet.4 It runs about three-quarters of a mile up to the rocky knoll where the lookout once stood.4 A Washington Trails Association hike listing describes an unsigned trail past the wilderness sign that leads to a former lookout site, and says the lookout no longer stands.5 No closure is described in the sources we read.

  1. Goat Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/goat-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Goat Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/goat-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Goat Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/goatmtn128a.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Goat Mountain Lookout Site (Baker Hwy), WillhiteWeb, https://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/goat_mountain_lookout/baker_highway_349.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Goat Mountain (Mount Baker), Washington Trails Association, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/goat-mountain-mount-baker (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Goat Mountain Lookout panoramic 9-28-1935 (N)
Goat Mountain Lookout panoramic 9-28-1935 (N) (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Goat Mountain Lookout panoramic 9-28-1935 (SE)
Goat Mountain Lookout panoramic 9-28-1935 (SE) (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Goat Mountain Lookout panoramic 9-28-1935 (SW)
Goat Mountain Lookout panoramic 9-28-1935 (SW) (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Goat Mountain Lookout site
Goat Mountain Lookout sitePhoto: Eric Willhite, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Goat Mountain Lookout site
Goat Mountain Lookout sitePhoto: Eric Willhite, via 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: 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. 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

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