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Fire lookout · Lewis County, Washington

Goat Ridge Lookout Site

Goat Ridge L-4 cab with basement, built 1933-34 in the Gifford Pinchot forest, was in use in 1963, probably removed in 1966, and is now a dead-end site on a Goat Rocks hike.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab gone by the 1960s; WillhiteWeb says probably removed in 1966. One WillhiteWeb photo is captioned Old lookout parts.

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. Trail loop from the Berry Patch trailhead; the route climbs into the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
WillhiteWeb lists the loop as 2 miles, reached by Forest Road 21 and then Forest Road 2150 to the trailhead. The lookout site is a dead end off the loop.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab with basementThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,240 ft (1,902 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Gifford Pinchot National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lewis County, Washington
Coordinates
46.48343, −121.51389
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-goat-ridge

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 3.6 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 with basement built in 1933 by Oscar Boyer and other CCC crews; finishing work in 1934Sources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1934 EventPanorama photos dated July 27, 1934Sources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1963
  4. 1963 StaffedTwo Packwood district lookouts manned in late June 1963, Goat Ridge among them; WillhiteWeb says still in use by the Forest Service that yearSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1966 RemovedWillhiteWeb says probably removed in 1966; firetower.org says gone by the 1960sSources: willhiteweb.com, firetower.org
  6. 1976 EventHike report calls the spot the former lookout siteSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1976 and 2012
  8. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterFFLOS US 1317, registered June 23, 2012Source: firetower.org
  9. 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 lookout stood on Goat Ridge in Lewis County, about 12 miles southeast of Packwood.1 Firetower.org describes it as an L-4 cab with a basement, built in 1933.2 WillhiteWeb says Oscar Boyer and other CCC workers built it in 1933, with the finishing work done in 1934.3 Panorama photos from the lookout are dated July 27, 1934.2

A newspaper item dated June 29, 1963 says two Packwood district lookouts were manned on Thursday, Goat Ridge among them.4 WillhiteWeb says the Forest Service was still using the lookout that year.3

WillhiteWeb says the cab was likely removed in 1966.3 Firetower.org says it had disappeared by the 1960s.2 A 1976 newspaper hiking piece called the spot the former lookout site.4

The hike starts at the Berry Patch trailhead and makes a loop of about 2 miles.3 WillhiteWeb warns that the lookout site is a dead end off the loop, and that many unsure hikers have probably stumbled into it by mistake.3 One of its photos is captioned "Old lookout parts," and the page says the view today is largely unchanged from the 1934 panoramas.3

Forest Road 21 begins about 2.7 miles west of Packwood, and WillhiteWeb says to follow its gravel road 13 miles before turning onto Forest Road 2150 for about 3 miles to the trailhead.3 No source I found describes the site's remains in more detail than that caption.

  1. Goat Ridge Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/goatridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Goat Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, firetower.org, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/goat-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Goat Ridge Loop and Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/goat_ridge_trail/lookout_351.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Goat Ridge, Forest Lookouts, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/goat-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Goat Ridge Lookout (no date)
Goat Ridge Lookout (no date)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Goat Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-27-1934 (N)
Goat Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-27-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Goat Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-27-1934 (SE)
Goat Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-27-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Goat Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-27-1934 (SW)
Goat Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-27-1934 (SW) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, 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, 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.