FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Skamania County, Washington

Little Huckleberry Mountain Lookout Site

Also known as Little Huckleberry

Gifford Pinchot NF lookout site, Skamania Co.: 1920 cupola cabin, 1936 L-4 cab, lost in 1970. Footings, a root cellar and a rock wall remain; reached by a 2.5-mile trail.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. L-4 cab removed or destroyed in 1970; footings, a root cellar and a rock wall remain on the summit per WillhiteWeb

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. Reached from a well-marked trailhead on the east side of Forest Road 66; the sources mention no gate or permit

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About 2.5 miles and 1,800 feet of gain from the trailhead on Forest Road 66

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cab12-by-12-foot cupola cabin (1920), replaced by an L-4 cab (1936)The designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1920
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,781 ft (1,457 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Skamania County, Washington
Coordinates
45.88525, −121.70466
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-little-huckleberry-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 3.7 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. 1912 Event1912 Columbia National Forest Map shows a lookout symbol on the peakSource: willhiteweb.com
  2. 1916 EventBenchmark placed on the peakSource: willhiteweb.com
  3. 1920 BuiltCupola cabin completed by the Forest Service in 1920 per Goldendale Sentinel (Sept 1920) and WillhiteWeb; Mazamas repeats the 1920 date. Register and firelookout.com say 1924Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, mazamas.org
  4. 1920 StaffedPercy Clendenny, of Lyle, built the cabin while acting as lookout that seasonSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1920 and 1936
  6. 1936 Replaced by a new structureL-4 cab replaces the cupola cabin; panoramic photos taken from the roof on August 13, 1936Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  7. 1938 StaffedJack Prince was the lookout in 1938; a Mt. Adams Sun item that September names his siblings visiting him at the lookoutSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1938 and 1970
  9. 1970 RemovedL-4 cab left the summit in 1970. Register and one history site say removed; firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  10. No record between 1970 and 2012
  11. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered June 24, 2012 as US 1327, WA 227Source: firetower.org
  12. 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 Huckleberry Mountain stands at 4,781 feet (1,457 m) in Skamania County, in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, about 16 miles northeast of Stevenson.1,2 A 1912 Columbia National Forest map already showed a lookout symbol on the peak, and a benchmark was placed there in 1916.3

Three of the five sources date the cabin to 1920.3,4,5 In a September 1920 item, the Goldendale Sentinel said the Forest Service had recently finished a standard-design lookout house at the peak.4 Ranger Carl Pearson, of Trout Lake, had the cabin's materials prepared to size, and pack horses hauled them to the top. Percy Clendenny, of Lyle, built it while working as the lookout that season.4 The cabin measured 12 by 12 feet and had a cupola for watching for fires.4

The register and firelookout.com instead date the cupola cabin to 1924. The 1920 newspaper reports are contemporary, so this account follows them.1,2,4

In 1936 an L-4 cab replaced the cupola, and panoramic photographs were taken from the roof that August.1,3,4 In 1938 Jack Prince was the lookout, and a Mt. Adams Sun item from that September says his siblings visited him at the station.3,4

The cab left the summit in 1970. The register and one lookout-history site say it was removed, while firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say it was destroyed.1,2,3,4

Today, WillhiteWeb's photo captions describe footings from the L-4 cab, a root cellar just below the summit, and a rock wall at the top, and they note eyebolts around the summit.3 Mazamas repeats an Oregon Hikers note that foundation pillars still sit on the summit.5 The sources describe no standing structure there now.3

The hike starts at a clearly signed trailhead on the east side of Forest Road 66, which changes from pavement to good gravel a few miles earlier.3 The trail covers about 2.5 miles and gains about 1,800 feet.3 The sources mention no gate or permit.

  1. Little Huckleberry Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/little-huckleberry-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Little Huckleberry Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/littlehuckleberry.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Little Huckleberry Mountain Trail, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/little_huckleberry_mountain/lookout_319.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Little Huckleberry - FOREST LOOKOUTS, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/little-huckleberry.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Little Huckleberry, Mazamas, https://mazamas.org/activity/instance/15772/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Little Huckleberry Mountain Lookout (no date)
Little Huckleberry Mountain Lookout (no date)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Little Huckleberry Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-13-1936 (N)
Little Huckleberry Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-13-1936 (N) (1936)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Little Huckleberry Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-13-1936 (SE)
Little Huckleberry Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-13-1936 (SE) (1936)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Little Huckleberry Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-13-1936 (SW)
Little Huckleberry Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-13-1936 (SW) (1936)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, 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.