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Fire lookout · Grays Harbor County, Washington

Humptulips Ridge Lookout Site

Grays Harbor County lookout site on a DNR parcel; sources disagree on the structure and dates, but it was gone by 1970 and no standing structure is described.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Gone by 1970; no source describes a structure at the site today

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
Ground-level cab10 x 10 ft wood-frame portable ground house (Willhite, Forest Lookouts); firelookout.com describes an L-5 cabThe design: L-5
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1942
Height
Unknown
Elevation
1,784 ft (544 m)
Agency
Washington Division of Forestry/DNR
Land
Federal land
Location
Grays Harbor County, Washington
Coordinates
47.35465, −123.77034
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-humptulips-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 3.9 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. 1942 BuiltRegister says a cabin was built here in 1942; Willhite says the Kresek inventory suggests use in 1942Sources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1942 and 1958
  3. 1958 Movedfirelookout.com: L-5 cab moved to the end of the ridge two miles southeast (date marked with a question mark for the original cab)Source: firelookout.com
  4. 1964 EventRegister says a trailer was set up on the siteSource: firetower.org
  5. 1970 RemovedGone by 1970 per the register, firelookout.com and Willhite's inventory notesSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1970 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered January 13, 2012; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  8. 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.

Willhite and the Forest Lookouts page both describe a portable ground house with a wood frame, measuring 10 by 10 feet. Willhite places it on a summit in Grays Harbor County, Washington.1,2 The sources do not agree on what stood there or when.3,4

The register says a cabin was built on the site in 1942, and that a trailer was set up there in 1964.3 Firelookout.com instead describes an L-5 cab, dated with a question mark to the 1950s, that was moved two miles southeast to the end of the ridge in 1958. That spot is commonly called the Humptulips Auxiliary Lookout.4 Willhite adds that the Kresek inventory points to use starting in 1942 and removal no later than 1970.2

The Forest Lookouts page gives no date for the building and lists it as removed.1

All the sources that give a date agree that the structures were gone by 1970.3,4,2

No source describes a standing structure at the site today. Willhite describes the summit now as a level, wooded spot where trees hide every view.2 His photos include part of a stovepipe.2 The ground is a detached DNR tract sitting inside national forest land.2 The Forest Lookouts page files the site under Olympic National Forest.1 We found no source that says whether the public may go onto the DNR land, so check with DNR before visiting.

  1. Humptulips Ridge, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/humptulips-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Humptulips Ridge Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/humptulips_ridge/fire_lookout_202.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Humptulips Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/humptulips-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Humptulips Ridge Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/humptulipsridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Humptulips Ridge Lookout
Humptulips Ridge LookoutPhoto: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Humptulips Ridge Lookout Site
Humptulips Ridge Lookout SitePhoto: Eric Willhite, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Humptulips Ridge Lookout Site
Humptulips Ridge Lookout SitePhoto: Eric Willhite, 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, 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: ownership, 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.