Fire lookout · King County, Washington
Humphrey Mountain Lookout Site
King County, WA lookout tower below Humphrey Mountain's summit, built 1934 or 1935 and burned in 1973; a 2015 visit found only weather-station posts and footings.
- Gone
- Restricted access
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Burned in 1973; a 2015 visit found weather-station posts and footings, not the tower
Visit & stay
Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.
Access
Restricted access
Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Willhite lists road access as restricted; no source describes public visits
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower20-foot wooden L-4 towerThe design: L-4
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Also served as
- Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
- Built
- 1935
- Height
- 20 ft (6.1 m)
- Elevation
- 2,573 ft (784 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- King County, Washington
- Coordinates
- 47.24009, −121.67785
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-wa-humphrey-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 its recorded height.
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
- 1934 EventPanoramic photos taken from the lookout on August 8, 1934Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
- 1935 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com give 1935; Willhite says probably early 1934Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
- 1942 EventAircraft Warning Service cabin built on the summit; Forest Lookouts lists Seattle Filter Center activation September 3, 1942 and deactivation October 16, 1943Sources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
- No record between 1942 and 1973
- 1973 BurnedMet a fiery end in 1973; Forest Lookouts records removal by burning; Willhite says burned to the groundSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1973 and 2012
- 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered May 26, 2012; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
- 2015 Condition assessmentVisit found all four weather-station posts, one still standing, plus footings and foundation blocksSource: willhiteweb.com
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Humphrey Mountain lookout stood on the eastern part of the ridge, just under the summit, in King County, Washington.1,2 The tower was a 20-foot L-4 design built of wood.1,3 The register lists the U.S. Forest Service as the administering agency.1
The register and firelookout.com both date the tower to 1935.1,2 Eric Willhite suspects it went up in early 1934, and panoramic photos taken from the lookout on August 8, 1934 show it was already standing by then.4,3 From the tower, the eye could sweep east across most of the railroad route running from Stampede Pass, but higher ground on Humphrey Mountain restricted the view west.3
A cabin for the Aircraft Warning Service went up on the summit in 1942.1,3 The Forest Lookouts page lists the site as activated for the Seattle Filter Center on September 3, 1942, and deactivated on October 16, 1943.4
Fire destroyed the tower in 1973.1,2 The Forest Lookouts page says it was removed by burning that year, and Willhite says it burned to the ground.4,3
When Willhite visited in 2015, he found all four weather-station posts, and one was still upright.3 His photos show footings and foundation blocks, and the hillside is scattered with cans, bottles, boards and wire.3 He wrote that a visitor could pass the spot without seeing any sign that substantial structures had once stood there.3 Willhite lists road access as restricted.3 No source we read describes public visits, so check with the land managers before going.
- Humphrey Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/humphrey-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Humphrey Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/humphreymtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Humphrey Mountain Lookout, Green River Watershed, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington/fire_lookouts/humphrey_mountain/green_river_watershed_256.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Humphrey Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/humphrey-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, wartime use, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Fire Lookouts (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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
- FFLOS register entry US 1279 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA Washington lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Humphrey Mtn. on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Humphrey Mountain on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
- Humphrey Mountain on WillhiteWeb.com Washington Fire Lookouts (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.