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Fire lookout · Columbia County, Washington

Griffin Peak Lookout Site

L-4 tower of about 1938 at Griffin Peak, Umatilla NF, Columbia County WA; later abandoned and gone. FFLOS-registered Dec 2012. No staffing or fire history found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Abandoned and now gone, per the Forest Fire Lookout Association register and WillhiteWeb

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 tower (cab), built about 1938The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1938
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,696 ft (1,736 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Columbia County, Washington
Coordinates
46.09344, −117.91186
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-griffin-peak

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 4.0 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 EventPanoramic photos taken from a tower about 20 feet above ground; the sources do not say whether it was the later L-4 towerSource: willhiteweb.com
  2. 1938 BuiltTower with an L-4 cab constructed about 1938, per the Kresek Inventory as cited by WillhiteWebSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1938 and 2012
  4. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 17, 2012 as FFLOS US 1534, WA 434; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  5. 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.

Griffin Peak is a former lookout site in the Umatilla National Forest, about 20 miles east of Walla Walla, in Columbia County, Washington.1,2

Panoramic photographs taken on August 19, 1935 were shot from a tower about 20 feet above the ground.3 The same photographs also capture the road into the site and a gate.3 The sources do not say whether that tower was the same one built later.3

In about 1938 a tower with an L-4 cab went up on the peak, according to the Kresek Inventory as cited by WillhiteWeb.3 A Washington lookouts listing gives the same circa-1938 date and calls it an L-4 tower.4

Sources agree that the tower was eventually abandoned and no longer stands.1,2,3 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's register added the site on December 17, 2012.1

We found no source describing what, if anything, remains at the site today, and none says whether the public can visit it.1,2,4,3 The register lists the U.S. Forest Service as the administering agency.1

  1. Griffin Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/griffin-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Griffin Peak Fire Lookout Tower, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/griffinpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Griffin Peak Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/griffin_peak_lookout/tower_229.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Griffin Peak, Forest Lookouts (Washington Lookouts), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/griffin-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Griffin Peak Lookout panoramic 8-19-1935 (N)
Griffin Peak Lookout panoramic 8-19-1935 (N) (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Griffin Peak Lookout panoramic 8-19-1935 (SE)
Griffin Peak Lookout panoramic 8-19-1935 (SE) (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Griffin Peak Lookout panoramic 8-19-1935 (SW)
Griffin Peak Lookout panoramic 8-19-1935 (SW) (1935)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, 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: design, 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, 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.