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Fire lookout · Kittitas County, Washington

Lion Rock Lookout Site

Kittitas Co., WA site on Table Mountain: 40-ft L-4 built 1932, replaced 1948, gone by 1967; one footing reported left; drive-up with dispersed camping.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Sources disagree on whether the tower was removed or destroyed in 1967. An undated WillhiteWeb photo caption reads 'One footing left'.

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. Drive-up site with good gravel access, a small campground below the summit and dispersed camping around it, per WillhiteWeb and The Mountaineers. No current agency closure notice was among the sources read.

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
No tower remains to climb. The summit is used for dispersed camping.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot pole L-4 tower (1932), replaced by a new 40-foot L-4 tower in 1948The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1932
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
6,359 ft (1,938 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Wenatchee National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Kittitas County, Washington
Coordinates
47.25231, −120.58547
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-lion-rock

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 4.4 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. 1932 Built40-foot pole L-4 tower built on a site that began in the 1920s as a camp with a crow's nestSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1933 StaffedEarl Johnson listed as lookout-fireman, June 1933; firelookout.com lists him as known lookout personnel for 1933Sources: firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1938 EventPlans for a combination garage and woodshed approved in May 1938Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1948 Replaced by a new structureNew 40-foot L-4 tower constructed in 1948Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1949 MovedFirst tower's L-4 cab apparently salvaged and moved to Sugarloaf Lookout; firetower.org gives 1949, firelookout.com says apparently moved with no date; WillhiteWeb says it may have beenSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1949 and 1967
  7. 1967 Removedfiretower.org says removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1967 and 2012
  9. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 21, 2012 as US 1412, WA 312; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  10. 2013 FireTable Mountain fire torched the area in fall 2013; the blaze left patches of green, and many trees near the summit survivedSource: willhiteweb.com
  11. 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.

Lion Rock is a former lookout site on Table Mountain, 16 miles north of Ellensburg in Kittitas County.1,2 It began in the 1920s as a camp with a crow's nest, a platform built up in a tree.3,2 A 40-foot pole L-4 tower was built there in 1932.3,2

Earl Johnson was listed as the lookout-fireman in June 1933, according to a Leavenworth Echo item quoted on the Forest Lookouts page.4,1 In May 1938, plans for a combined garage and woodshed were approved for the site.2,4

A new 40-foot L-4 replaced the first tower in 1948.3,1,2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says the first tower's cab was apparently salvaged and moved to Sugarloaf Lookout in 1949, and firelookout.com says it was apparently moved, without a date.3,1 WillhiteWeb says only that it may have been.2

The tower came down in 1967. The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says it was removed, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed.3,1

The Table Mountain fire torched the area in the fall of 2013. The blaze left patches of green, and many summit trees made it through.2 An undated WillhiteWeb photo caption reads "One footing left," and that is the only remnant the sources describe.2

On the pages we read, the site is public. WillhiteWeb lists it as drive-up with good gravel access, a campground nearby, and many dispersed campsites around the summit.2 The Mountaineers give the route as Forest Road 35 to Forest Road 35-124, and list day hiking as a suitable activity.5

  1. Lion Rock Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/lionrock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Lion Rock Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/lion_rock/fire_lookout_302.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Lion Rock Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/lion-rock-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Lion Rock - Forest Lookouts, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/lion-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Table Mountain/Lion Rock, The Mountaineers, https://www.mountaineers.org/activities/routes-places/table-mountain-lion-rock (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Lion Rock Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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: 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.