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Fire lookout · Skamania County, Washington

McCoy Peak Lookout Site

Gone L-5 cab lookout on McCoy Peak in the Gifford Pinchot forest; the sources disagree on whether it was removed or burned in 1964.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The register says the cab was removed in 1964. FireLookout.com says destroyed in 1964, and WillhiteWeb quotes a 1964 survey record of destruction by fire on September 10, 1964

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Original trail from the north along Langille Ridge; WillhiteWeb says roads wash out often and advises checking Forest Service road status

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-5 cab, 10 by 10 feetThe design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,856 ft (1,785 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Skamania County, Washington
Coordinates
46.33013, −121.82437
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-mccoy-peak

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 4.0 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 BuiltBuilt shortly after the July 1934 photographs; standing by 1937 at the latest. The register gives only 'the 1930s'Sources: willhiteweb.com, firetower.org
  2. 1940 StaffedOccupied for several years after the 1940 Langille Ridge fire; exact years not givenSource: willhiteweb.com
  3. No record between 1940 and 1964
  4. 1964 DestroyedA 1964 survey crew recorded the lookout as destroyed by fire on September 10, 1964Sources: willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  5. 1964 RemovedRegister says the L-5 cab was removed in 1964; conflicts with the destroyed entriesSource: firetower.org
  6. No record between 1964 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register July 16, 2012Source: firetower.org
  8. 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.

McCoy Peak sits in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.1 The register and FireLookout.com both describe an L-5 cab from the 1930s.2,1 WillhiteWeb says the cab was 10 by 10 feet, that the site had no lookout when photographed on July 18, 1934, and that the lookout was built shortly afterward, standing by 1937 at the latest.3 The register's panorama captions, however, date the photo to July 16, 1934.2

According to a book WillhiteWeb cites, the lookout never had telephone communication.3 WillhiteWeb adds that the lookout was in use for several years after the 1940 Langille Ridge fire.3 Jim McMahan told the author that his second cousin, Earl Mels, was talking on the radio at the lookout when lightning hit.3 The next day a crew had to bring him off the mountain.3

The register says the L-5 cab was removed in 1964.2 FireLookout.com says it was destroyed that year.1 A 1964 survey crew visiting the summit benchmark recorded that the lookout was destroyed by fire on September 10, 1964, and the record names the Forest Service.3 The sources disagree on whether the cab was taken down or burned.2,1,3

Today the summit benchmark carries the label McCoy Peak Lookout.3 On a November 2019 visit, WillhiteWeb found much metal on the hillside below the lookout site.3 WillhiteWeb says roads in this region wash out often and advises checking with the Forest Service website.3

  1. McCoy Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/mccoypeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. McCoy Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/mccoy-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. McCoy Peak Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/mccoy_peak_lookout/gifford_pinchot_279.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

McCoy Peak Lookout 1941
McCoy Peak Lookout 1941 (1941)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
McCoy Peak Lookout panoramic 7-16-1934 (N)
McCoy Peak Lookout panoramic 7-16-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
McCoy Peak Lookout panoramic 7-16-1934 (SE)
McCoy Peak Lookout panoramic 7-16-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
McCoy Peak Lookout panoramic 7-16-1934 (SW)
McCoy Peak Lookout panoramic 7-16-1934 (SW) (1934)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, 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, 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.