FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lewis County, Washington

High Rock Lookout

L-4 cliffside lookout in Gifford Pinchot National Forest, staffed into the mid-2000s and now off-site for restoration of the cabin.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Reached by a ~1.6 mile trail off FS Road 52; site is historic and not rented.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
~1.6 mile hike, usually snow-free by early July; signage sparse past the gravel road turnoff.
Staffing
Not staffed (as of mid-2000s)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingL-4The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,288 ft (1,612 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lewis County, Washington
Coordinates
46.68450, −121.90000
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-high-rock-2

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 4.0 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. 1930 BuiltNHLR gives 1929; Fire Lookout Museum gives 1930 for the L-4 cab.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1930 First staffedStaffed the same year it was built, per NHLR.Source: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1930 and 2001
  4. 2001 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterCertificate presented June 2001 to District Ranger Harry Cody and observer Bud Panco.Source: nhlr.org
  5. 2003 Last staffedLast season the lookout was occupied; neglect and vandalism followed.Source: sandmountain.org
  6. 2005 Last staffedFire Lookout Museum says staffed into the mid-2000s; exact last year not given.Source: firelookout.com
  7. 2015 RestoredVolunteers stabilized the south wall as a Historical Society campaign to save the lookout began.Source: sandmountain.org
  8. 2020 Condition assessmentCondition inspection found serious rot in load-bearing parts; SMS wrote the historic property plan and the windows came out for restoration.Source: sandmountain.org
  9. 2021 EventCab removed from site for off-site restoration per Fire Lookout Museum.Source: firelookout.com
  10. 2021 RestoredCabin taken apart over three weeks and its lumber flown out for repair at the ranger station.Source: sandmountain.org
  11. 2024 EventNHLR notes the cabin still undergoing off-site restoration as of 2024; not yet confirmed returned to the tower.Source: nhlr.org
  12. 2024 RestoredMajor rebuild continuing: two historical societies removed the lookout to rebuild critical parts, to return it to the summit later.Source: firelookout.org
  13. 2025 RestoredRefurbished parts flown back on July 8 and rebuilding began; the cabin was weathertight before the trail reopened Nov 1.Source: sandmountain.org
  14. 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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

High Rock Lookout sits on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, just south of Mount Rainier National Park, on the edge of a sheer 1,200-foot cliff.1 The Forest Service built the 14-by-14-foot L-4 cab, with its gable roof and surrounding catwalk, and staffed it the same year it was completed.1 Sources differ slightly on the exact year: the National Historic Lookout Register lists 1929, while the Fire Lookout Museum's page gives 1930.1,2

Longtime observer Bud Panco became closely associated with the lookout over his years watching from it, and it was staffed seasonally into the mid-2000s.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register presented its certificate for the site in June 2001, with the honor going to District Ranger Harry Cody and to Panco himself.1

After staffing ended, the building sat exposed to the weather and to visitors. A 2017 site visit described broken and boarded-up windows, graffiti, mouse droppings, a missing basement door, and wood reinforcements added to shore up a sagging ceiling, though the structure itself still seemed sound.1 The firefinder was reported still in place inside.1

By 2021, the cab had been removed from the site for off-site restoration, according to the Fire Lookout Museum, and the National Historic Lookout Register's 2024 note confirms the cabin was still away from the tower undergoing repair at that point.1,2

As of the most recent reporting, the cabin remains off-site for restoration rather than back on its tower base; the site is not rented out, and it functions as a historic site maintained by the Forest Service, reachable by a roughly 1.6-mile trail that's typically clear of snow by early July.1 Signage along the approach road is sparse, so hikers should carry a map rather than rely on signs alone.1 Visitors can view the lookout and its dramatic cliffside perch, but given the building's fragile, in-progress restoration, it's best treated as a place to look at, not climb on.

  1. High Rock Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/high-rock-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. High Rock Lookout, Fire Lookout Museum, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/highrock.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of High Rock Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cabin exterior with broken windows and graffiti
Cabin exterior with broken windows and graffitiPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Platform during off-site restoration of cabin in 2024
Platform during off-site restoration of cabin in 2024 (2024)Photo: Todd Stewart, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
High Rock in 1987
High Rock in 1987 (1987)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of High Rock 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.

    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1930
    • TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts: 1929
    • Sand Mountain Society: 1931

    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, status, 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, dates, 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. Sand Mountain Society Gave us: dates, links Sand Mountain Society (sandmountain.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, dimensions, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the Sand Mountain Society page it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR and FFLOS records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  7. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  8. 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
  9. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: photos, links 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
  10. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.