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Fire lookout · Klickitat County, Washington

Lorena Butte Lookout (now at Lefever)

Also known as Lorena Butte Lookout, Lefever, Twin Buttes (Lorena), Lorena Butte Relocated Lookout

A DNR live-in cab on Lorena Butte, moved in 2006 to private Lefever Holbrook Ranch land and rented nightly; the original site is listed as gone, and sources disagree on the move year.

Permission required

You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. On private land owned by the Lefever Holbrook Ranch. Nightly rentals are offered through the owners.

Original site: Pierson Ridge Tower Site

Visit & stay

You can rent this lookout for overnight stays through Airbnb.

Managed by
private owner

Book on Airbnb

This rental is listed by the Forest Fire Lookout Association’s rentals list, checked 19 Oct 2026; the association does not run rentals. Rules, fees and seasons change, so confirm on the booking page before you go.

Access

Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Booked rental guests only, through the owners. The dirt road to the top has one steep section.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cab14x14 DNR-style live-in cab (ground house), built 1974 on a 10-foot concrete slab at the summit; the slab stayed behind at the 2006 moveThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1937
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,180 ft (665 m)
Agency
Washington Department of Natural Resources (original administrator); the relocated cab is on private land
Land
Private land
Location
Klickitat County, Washington
Coordinates
45.79973, −120.79818
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 19 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-lorena-butte-at-lefever

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

Downloads about 4.1 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. 1937 BuiltFirst known structure on Lorena Butte, an L-4 cabSources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com
  2. No record between 1937 and 1954
  3. 1954 BuiltDNR cab built atop an eight-foot rock formation; the site replaced the nearby Simcoe Butte lookoutSource: nhlr.org
  4. No record between 1954 and 1974
  5. 1974 BuiltCurrent live-in DNR cab built atop a ten-foot concrete slabSources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com
  6. No record between 1974 and 1993
  7. 1993 Last staffedLast staffed in 1993, before the cab movedSources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com
  8. 2006 MovedMoved from the summit down a ridge to the southwest because of local mining operations. NHLR's photo caption says 2005 and Forest Lookouts says 2007.Sources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 2013 StaffedOccasionally staffed at the new location in high fire danger; most notably July 2013 during a lightning stormSource: nhlr.org
  10. 2021 Opened as a rentalCab first offered as a nightly rentalSource: trailchick.com
  11. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 12, 2022 as US 1549, WA 79Source: nhlr.org
  12. Date unknown MovedMoved from Lorena Butte to Lefever.Source: FFLA
  13. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Lorena Butte, near Goldendale in Klickitat County, Washington, has carried a lookout since 1937, when the first known structure there was an L-4 cab.1,2 In 1954 a Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) cab went up atop an eight-foot rock formation, and the site replaced the nearby Simcoe Butte lookout.1 The cab in use today was built in 1974 as a live-in DNR cab, 14x14, on a ten-foot concrete slab at the summit.1,3

The cab was last staffed in 1993, before it moved.1,2 Since the move, people have sometimes staffed it at the new site when fire danger ran high, most notably in July 2013, when a lightning storm passed over the area.1

The cab was moved in 2006 from the summit down a ridge to the southwest, because of local mining operations. The 1974 concrete slab stayed behind.1,2 Sources disagree on the year. An NHLR photo caption says 2005, and a Forest Lookouts history says 2007.1,3 Firelookout.org marks the original site "Gone" and the relocated cab "Standing".4

Today the cab sits on private land owned by the Lefever Holbrook Ranch, which rents it out nightly.1 The NHLR entry registered it on April 12, 2022, as US 1549, WA 79.1 TrailChick dates the start of rentals to 2021.2 An Airbnb listing describes a rustic stay with access to the tower and grounds, no water or electricity on site, and a dirt road to the top with one steep section.5 Anyone curious should arrange a visit through the owners rather than go up the ranch land uninvited.

  1. Lorena Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/lorena-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Lorena Butte, TrailChick, https://www.trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/lorena-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Lorena Butte, Forest Lookouts (Washington), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/lorena-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Washington fire lookouts, firelookout.org, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wa/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Lorena Butte Lookout Tower, Airbnb, https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/916179032054360029 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Lorena Butte Lookout
Lorena Butte LookoutPhoto: Christine Estrada, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lorena Butte Lookout - Original location - Relocated 2005
Lorena Butte Lookout - Original location - Relocated 2005 (2005)Photo: Christine Estrada Collection, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Lorena Butte Lookout (now at Lefever)
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · 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. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: name, type, status, register numbers, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Forest Fire Lookout Association: lookout rentals Gave us: ownership, access, rental details, links Forest Fire Lookout Association rentals list (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only (state, name, booking link, manager, closure note), no prose copied. The FFLA says it is not involved in managing any rental program. · retrieved 19 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. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: photos TrailChick (trailchick.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, coordinates, elevation, lookout type, years built). The guide's text is not reproduced; its card photos are listed with credit to TrailChick, for the project's photo mirroring. · 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.