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Fire lookout · Skamania County, Washington

Gumboot Mountain Lookout Site

Also known as Gumboot

Gumboot Mountain lookout, Gifford Pinchot NF, Skamania County WA: 1920 cupola cabin, L-4 cab 1931 per sources; 1927 fire threat; now gone, removal year not given.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Listed as gone by the Former Fire Lookout Sites register and the Forest Fire Lookout Association; no removal year given

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
Trail
WillhiteWeb's 2017 visit: final road overgrown and rough, hike up to one mile or so; a forest road dead-ended in washouts at the bottom of the mountain

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabCupola cabin (1920); L-4 cab (1931), per WillhiteWeb and the Forest Fire Lookout AssociationThe designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1920
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,910 ft (1,192 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Skamania County, Washington
Coordinates
45.86204, −122.21393
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-gumboot-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 4.1 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. 1919 EventAbout 7,000 pounds of lookout-house parts carried by horse toward Gum Boot on the Yacolt burn, per the OregonianSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1920 BuiltCabin completed by October 1920 by John Huffman and John Meyers of the Forest Service; 3.5-mile trail made to the summit; cupola cabin per the Forest Fire Lookout AssociationSources: firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1927 FireSiouxon fire district: crews pulled out; Gumboot station believed likely to burn; instruments removed and houses abandoned (Statesman Journal, as quoted on the Washington Lookouts page)Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1931 BuiltL-4 cab built, per WillhiteWeb and the Forest Fire Lookout Association; the register gives 1931 as the build year and does not mention 1920Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1937 EventPanorama photos taken at 15 feet above the groundSource: willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1937 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered June 24, 2012 as FFLOS US 1322, WA 222; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  8. 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.

The Gumboot Mountain lookout stood in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, in Skamania County, Washington, about 20 miles north-northeast of Washougal.1,2

The site sat on the Yacolt burn, an area of roughly 100,000 acres where a stand of timber was killed in 1902.3,4 In July 1919 the Oregonian reported that about 7,000 pounds of parts for a lookout house were being carried by horse toward the Gumboot lookout site on that burn.5,3 It was the first house ordered under a revised plan aimed at lighter buildings.3 It was assembled at a Portland mill and shipped in pieces.3

The cabin was finished by October 1920.3,5 John Huffman and John Meyers of the Forest Service built it, and a trail of three and a half miles was cut to the summit.5,3 Three parties cooperated on the project: the Forest Service, the state of Washington and the Washington Forest Fire Association.3 One listing calls the 1920 building a cupola cabin.2

The dates are disputed.1,2,3 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register gives 1931 as the build year and describes an L-4 cab, and it does not mention the 1920 building.1 WillhiteWeb and the Forest Fire Lookout Association listing both describe the 1920 cabin and then an L-4 cab added in 1931.2,3

In August 1927 forest fires in the Columbia National Forest forced crews out of the Siouxon fire district.5 The Statesman Journal reported that the Gumboot station was believed likely to burn, and that the instruments had been taken out and the houses vacated.5

The register and the Forest Fire Lookout Association both list the cabin as gone.1,2

WillhiteWeb describes a 2017 visit in which the final road was overgrown and the author stopped shortly before the summit.3 Photo captions from that visit include "Standard nails, glass and bolts," but the text does not explain what they show.3 The same page gives a hike of up to about a mile, and notes that in 2017 a forest road dead-ended in washouts near the bottom of the mountain.3 We found no source saying whether the site is open to the public today.3

  1. Gumboot Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/gumboot-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Gumboot Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/gumbootmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Gumboot Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/gumboot_mountain_lookout/yacolt_burn_227.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Lookout Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Washington Lookouts), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/lookout-mountain5.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Gumboot, Forest Lookouts (Washington Lookouts), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/gumboot.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Gumboot Mountain Lookout 1944
Gumboot Mountain Lookout 1944 (1944)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Gumboot Mountain Lookout 1944
Gumboot Mountain Lookout 1944 (1944)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, 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, 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.