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Fire lookout · Clark County, Washington

Larch Mountain Lookout Site

Larch Mountain lookout, Clark County, WA: 40-foot tower built 1952, weather station after 1969, gone by 1974; a federal survey record labels a radar tower on the mountain.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower destroyed (or removed) in 1974. A federal survey record labels a point on the mountain LARCH MTN RADAR TOWER but gives no station description

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. Mountain lies within Yacolt Burn State Forest. Willhite describes walking a road from the Larch Mountain Trailhead; a gate just below the trailhead is closed in winter

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
No lookout tower remains to climb. Willhite describes walking up the road from the Larch Mountain Trailhead Parking Area

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot wooden tower with L-4 cab (14x14 ft)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1952
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
3,473 ft (1,059 m)
Agency
Washington Division of Forestry/DNR
Land
Unknown
Location
Clark County, Washington
Coordinates
45.71697, −122.29569
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-larch-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 4.2 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. 1952 Built40-foot timber or wooden tower with 14x14 L-4 cab, built by the state forestry divisionSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1952 FireYacolt burn fire reached the mountain's east slope in November 1952Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1952 StaffedCharles Briggs relayed reports from the lookout in November 1952 until the Yacolt burn fire forced him to leaveSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1955 StaffedOpening of the station delayed by snow drifts in spring 1955; usual opening April 15Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1969 EventDiscontinued as a fire lookout in August 1969 when air patrols took over detection; kept as a weather stationSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. 1974 DestroyedDestroyed in 1974 per the Fire Lookout website and Willhite; the register says removedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1974 and 2012
  8. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register June 24, 2012Source: firetower.org
  9. 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.

The Larch Mountain lookout in Clark County, Washington, went up in 1952 as a 40-foot wooden tower with an L-4 cab.1,2,3,4 The state's forestry division ran it, and its annual report lists the tower as forty feet tall with a cab measuring 14 by 14 feet.1,3

In November 1952, during the Yacolt burn fire, Charles Briggs sent most of the updates on the blaze out over the radio from the lookout.3 He was forced out once the blaze crossed into Clark County and started up the mountain's east flank.3

In May 1955 State Forester Beckim predicted a late opening, saying drifts seven feet deep were holding his crews back.3 Its usual opening date was April 15.3

In August 1969 the state discontinued the lookout, along with four others on the Battle Ground district, because aerial patrols now handled fire detection.3 It stayed in service as a weather station, reporting on the east winds that push through the Columbia Gorge.3,4

The lookout tower was destroyed in 1974.2,4 The register says it was removed that year.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register added the site on June 24, 2012.1

A National Geodetic Survey record in Clark County is labelled LARCH MTN RADAR TOWER.5 The record has no station description, so it does not show what, if anything, stands on the mountain today.3,5

The mountain sits inside the Yacolt Burn State Forest and has a network of gravel roads running across it.6 Willhite says a sound road can be walked up from the Larch Mountain Trailhead, and that a gate on the L-1500 road, a short way below it, is shut in winter.4 There is no lookout tower to climb.4

Willhite points out that a better-known Larch Mountain lookout stands across the Columbia Gorge in Oregon, a separate site.4

  1. Larch Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/larch-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Larch Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Fire Lookout website, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/larchmtn154.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Larch Mountain, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/larch-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Larch Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb, http://www.willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/larch_mountain_lookout/yacolt_state_forest_023.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. LARCH MTN RADAR TOWER (PID RD2248), National Geodetic Survey, https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=RD2248 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  6. Larch Mountain (Clark County, Washington), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larch_Mountain_(Clark_County,_Washington) (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Larch Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: 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, 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: height, 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, height, 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.