FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Skamania County, Washington

Hungry Peak Lookout Site

L-5 cab lookout of the 1930s in Skamania County, WA, now gone; sources disagree on removal versus destruction; drive-up site with a footing and anchor bolt left.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register says the cab was abandoned and then removed; Willhite reports a 1964 USGS party found the lookout house destroyed. A footing and anchor bolt remain.

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?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Forest road to an old circular loop just below the site, then a 20-foot trail to the site (Willhite).

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-5 cabThe design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
Unknown
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,048 ft (1,234 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Skamania County, Washington
Coordinates
46.12112, −121.86739
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-hungry-peak

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 4.0 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. 1935 EventPanoramic photos from 1935 show a flagpole and some shedsSource: willhiteweb.com
  2. 1937 EventSummit benchmark placedSource: willhiteweb.com
  3. No record between 1937 and 1964
  4. 1964 DestroyedUSGS party said the lookout house had been destroyed (Willhite); the register says the cab was abandoned and then removed, with no dateSource: willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1964 and 2011
  6. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered February 2, 2011 as US 833, WA 41Source: 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.

Hungry Peak Lookout Site sits in Skamania County, Washington, on land the U.S. Forest Service administers within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.1 Its register entry describes an L-5 cab built in the 1930s.1 Willhite dates the cab to the early 1930s and says the summit benchmark went in during 1937.2

Panoramic photographs from 1935 show a flagpole and some sheds.2 A 1940 photo on Willhite's page carries the caption "Columbia National Forest," while the register now places the site in the Gifford Pinchot.2,1

The sources disagree on how the cab ended. The register says it was abandoned and then removed.1 Willhite reports that a USGS party in 1964 said the lookout house had been destroyed.2 The firelookout.com summary lists the 1930s L-5 cab as gone, with no removal date.3

Today, trees have overtaken the old views, though Willhite's captions record a view of Mount St. Helens in October 1999.2 His photos show small cliffs around the summit, a steel anchor rising from a buried footing, and an anchor bolt farther down the hillside.2 Willhite calls the place a former lookout site, and his captions describe no standing structure.2

Willhite describes driving a forest road to an old circular loop just below the site, then walking a 20-foot trail to the site.2 He says the final spur is very hidden, with grass and tree branches hiding the road after it leaves the main road.2 None of the sources read says the site is closed or permit-only, but none states its legal access status outright.1,3,2

  1. Hungry Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/hungry-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Hungry Peak Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/hungry_peak/lookout_259.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Hungry Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/hungrypeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Hungry Peak Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
View of Mount St. Helens 10/3/1999
View of Mount St. Helens 10/3/1999 (1999)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Hungry Peak Lookout panoramic 10-19-1935 (N)
Hungry Peak Lookout panoramic 10-19-1935 (N) (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Hungry Peak Lookout panoramic 10-19-1935 (SE)
Hungry Peak Lookout panoramic 10-19-1935 (SE) (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Hungry Peak Lookout panoramic 10-19-1935 (SW)
Hungry Peak Lookout panoramic 10-19-1935 (SW) (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, 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. 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
  5. 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.