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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Little Buck Mountain Lookout Site

Okanogan NF summit in Okanogan County, WA; an L-5 cab built in 1934 and gone by 1953. WillhiteWeb's April 2020 visit found communication towers on the summit, and the register says a small ski lift is on the site now.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed or destroyed in 1953; WillhiteWeb found communication towers on the summit in April 2020, and the register says a small ski lift is on the site now

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. Summer hiking route from the summer gate closure up the steep communication-tower access road. A lift can be used in winter. Access to the tower compound is not described.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
1.5 miles with about 1,300 feet of gain from the summer gate closure; a lift can be used in winter

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
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,390 ft (1,643 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Okanogan National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.38783, −119.92667
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-little-buck-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 4.3 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. 1934 BuiltRegister, firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb all date the L-5 cab to 1934Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1953
  3. 1953 DestroyedRegister says removed; firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1953 and 2010
  5. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 20, 2010 as US 695, WA 27Source: firetower.org
  6. 2019 EventNewest communication tower installed in 2019/2020, per a WillhiteWeb photo captionSource: willhiteweb.com
  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.

Little Buck Mountain is a site in the Okanogan National Forest, in Okanogan County, Washington, at 5,390 feet (1,643 m).1 The register says the Forest Service built an L-5 cab there in 1934.1 WillhiteWeb has panoramic views shot from the cab's roof that September.2

The sources we read do not name anyone who staffed the cab or any fire it watched.

The register says the cab was removed in 1953.1 firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb both say it was destroyed that year.3,2

WillhiteWeb's author, who visited in April 2020, describes multiple communication towers at the top and found no relic besides an insulator from a phone line, hung on a tree near the peak.2 According to the register, the site now has a small ski lift.1

WillhiteWeb describes parking at the summer gate closure and following signs for the summer hiking route, which is the steep communication-tower access road. The hike is 1.5 miles with about 1,300 feet of climbing, and a lift can shorten it in winter.2 We found no source describing public access to the tower compound, and we would not encourage climbing the towers.

  1. Little Buck Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/little-buck-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Little Buck Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/little_buck_mountain/lookout_site_082.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Little Buck Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/littlebuck.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Little Buck Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Ski lift and communications equipment on the site
Ski lift and communications equipment on the sitePhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Little Buck Mountain 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, 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) 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
  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, 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.