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Fire lookout · Skamania County, Washington

Horseshoe Ridge Lookout Site

A 1934 six-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab on a Skamania County ridge; abandoned in 1952 or later, now gone, with scattered remains and a Forest Service trail past the site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Gone. The register gives 1952 for abandonment; Willhite says the date is unclear and cites a 1964 image.

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. Forest Service trail 140 passes the site. When the Forest Service page was read, the trail was listed as temporarily closed because of the High Lava Fire.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Trail 140 is 6.9 miles and runs along the ridge past the site. Nothing stands at the site to climb. The trailhead on Willhite's map is unsigned.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cab6-foot pole tower with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,465 ft (1,056 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Skamania County, Washington
Coordinates
45.93229, −122.11909
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-horseshoe-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 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. 1934 BuiltSix-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab; Willhite reports the same build yearSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1952
  3. 1952 AbandonedThe register's abandonment year; Willhite says the date is unclearSource: firetower.org
  4. 1964 EventA Forest Service image shows the lookout in good condition (per Willhite); the register captions a 1964 photoSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1964 and 2020
  6. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 6, 2020; nominated by Tammy McLeodSource: firetower.org
  7. 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.

A lookout went up on this Skamania County ridge in 1934.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's register describes a six-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, and FireLookout.com gives the same design.1,2 Willhite's site says the lookout was reported built that year, and that panoramic images were taken from 12 feet up on the roof on July 11, 1934.3

The sources disagree about how it ended.1,3 The register dates the abandonment to 1952 and reports the lookout gone, and one of its photos is captioned 1964.1 Willhite says it is unclear when the lookout was abandoned and burned, and points to a Forest Service image from 1964 that shows the lookout in good condition.3

Today the site shows only scraps.3 Willhite's photo captions list hinges, nails, glass, a battery core and burned wood.3 Willhite writes that a visitor would never guess buildings once stood there.3 The Horseshoe Ridge Trail runs right past the site.3

The Forest Service describes the trail as a 6.9-mile route along the ridge.4 It says a lookout formerly sat at the northwest end of the 3,495-foot summit.4 When its page was read, the trail was listed as temporarily closed because of the High Lava Fire.4 Gravel roads come within a mile of the site, and Willhite notes that the trailhead on the map is unsigned.3

The register gives the site an elevation of 3,465 feet, while FireLookout.com gives 3,495 feet.1,2

  1. Horseshoe Ridge Lookout Site, Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/horseshoe-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Horseshoe Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/horseshoeridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Horseshoe Ridge Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/horseshoe_ridge/lookout_268.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Trail #140 Horseshoe Ridge, USDA Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/giffordpinchot/recreation/trails/trail-140-horseshoe-ridge (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Horseshoe Ridge Lookout 1964
Horseshoe Ridge Lookout 1964 (1964)Photo: Rex Kamstra 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, 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.