FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Ferry County, Washington

Gold Mountain Lookout

Ferry County live-in steel tower (built 1986) on a lookout site used since 1914; staffed each fire season; non-tribal members need a recreation permit.

Permission required

You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. Non-tribal members need a recreation permit ($80 a year per TrailChick). TrailChick and firelookout.com place the summit on the Colville Indian Reservation.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Main access runs north off Wilmont/Bridge Creek Road, about 7 miles to the summit; TrailChick recommends a high-clearance AWD.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-ft steel live-in tower built 1986; the 1963 wooden predecessor had an R-6 flat-top cabThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Steel
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
4,684 ft (1,428 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Colville National Forest (per NHLR); TrailChick and firelookout.com say the summit is on the Colville Indian Reservation
Land
Federal land
Location
Ferry County, Washington
Coordinates
48.18055, −118.46709
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-gold-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 4.2 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 BuiltLookout camp started on the summitSources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com, firelookout.com
  2. No record between 1914 and 1938
  3. 1938 BuiltL-4 cab builtSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  4. 1943 StaffedColville Examiner reported many teachers working as lookouts across the Colville National Forest, Gold Mountain includedSource: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1943 and 1963
  6. 1963 Built20-ft wooden tower with R-6 flat-top cab, replacing the 1938 cabSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1963 and 1986
  8. 1986 BuiltPresent 100-ft steel live-in towerSources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1986 and 2022
  10. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on NHLR April 11, 2022Source: nhlr.org
  11. 2024 StaffedTrailChick page (last updated March 23, 2024) says the tower still remains staffed every fire seasonSource: trailchick.com
  12. 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.

Gold Mountain in Ferry County began as a lookout camp in 1914.1,2 An L-4 cab went up there in 1938, and a 20-foot wooden tower with an R-6 flat-top cab took its place in 1963.3,1 The present 100-foot steel tower was built in 1986.1,2

Sources describe it as the tallest live-in tower in the state, with a lookout on duty each summer.1,3 Staffing is older than the current tower. NHLR cites a 1943 Colville Examiner report that many teachers were working as fire lookouts across the Colville National Forest, including a Colville couple on Gold Mountain.1 A TrailChick page last updated in March 2024 says the tower still has a fire-season lookout.2

The sources disagree about who runs the site. The NHLR lists the Colville National Forest, administered by the US Forest Service, while TrailChick and firelookout.com place the summit on the Colville Indian Reservation.1,2,3 The main access runs north off Wilmont/Bridge Creek Road, about seven miles to the summit, and TrailChick recommends a high-clearance AWD.2 People who are not tribal members need a recreation permit to visit tribal land. TrailChick says it costs $80 a year and can be bought online.2

Another Gold Mountain, in Kitsap County, had lookouts of its own and is a separate site.4

  1. Gold Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/gold-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Gold Mountain, TrailChick, https://www.trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/gold-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Gold Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/goldmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Gold Mountain Lookouts - 2023 Revision, leslieromer.com, https://leslieromer.com/2023/02/26/gold-mountain-lookouts-2023-revision/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Gold Mountain Lookout - 2019
Gold Mountain Lookout - 2019 (2019)Photo: Christine Estrada, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Gold Mountain Lookout - 1960
Gold Mountain Lookout - 1960 (1960)Photo: National Archive, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Gold Mtn. in 1993
Gold Mtn. in 1993 (1993)Photo: Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Gold Mountain Lookout
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1986
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1963
    • TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts: 1986

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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: what it is built of, design, height, staffing, 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 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. 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.