FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Milton Mountain Lookout Site

Okanogan National Forest summit lookout built 1933 on a pole L-4 tower; sold and removed in 1951; no lookout stands on the summit, reached by a 10-mile hike on an abandoned trail.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Sold and removed in 1951. No lookout stands on the summit, per a 2022 visit.

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. Okanogan National Forest land, reached from the Wolf Creek Trailhead; no closure or permit is described in these sources; the site is isolated from any maintained trail

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
WillhiteWeb lists a 10-mile one-way hiking distance, and its directions end at the Wolf Creek Trailhead; the final route follows an abandoned trail that has faded in places

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerPole tower with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1933
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
7,152 ft (2,180 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Okanogan National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.49541, −120.44047
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-milton-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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.9 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 StaffedGeorge Haase, fireman-lookout; fire season started July 15, 1932Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1933 BuiltRegister gives 1933 for an 18-foot pole L-4 tower; newspaper and WillhiteWeb place construction in 1933Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1933 and 1951
  4. 1951 RemovedSold for $1.00 and removed; the register says the tower was sold, WillhiteWeb says the cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1951 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 18, 2012 on the Former Fire Lookout Sites registerSource: firetower.org
  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.

Milton Mountain sits between the forks of Wolf Creek in Okanogan County, on Okanogan National Forest land about 12 miles west of Winthrop.1,2,3

The register dates the lookout to 1933 and describes an 18-foot pole L-4 tower.1 Firelookout.com gives the same year and height.2 A 1933 Wenatchee newspaper item describes a standard lookout house, 14 by 14 feet, on top of a 20-foot tower, so the sources disagree about the height.4 A cabin for the site was already planned in the summer of 1932.4

A fireman-lookout named George Haase held the post in 1932.3 A July 1932 newspaper item says he had resumed the job, and WillhiteWeb says his fire season began on July 15 that year.4,3

The lookout was sold in 1951 and removed.1,2,4 The price was $1.00 in the register, on firelookout.com and on WillhiteWeb.1,2,3 The register says the tower was sold, while WillhiteWeb says the cab was.1,3

No lookout stands on the summit now.3 A 2022 visit described on WillhiteWeb found no lookout, some sun-dried cut stumps from the lookout days, a sign too worn to read, and loose parts around the ground.3 The page also mentions a spot in a rock pile that may be an old cellar or emergency shelter.3

The land is Okanogan National Forest, and these sources describe no closure or permit.1,3 The hike is long. WillhiteWeb lists a hiking distance of 10 miles one way, and its directions end at the Wolf Creek Trailhead. The site is isolated from any maintained trail.3

  1. Milton Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/milton-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Milton Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/miltonmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Milton Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/milton_mountain_lookout/wolf_creek_122.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Milton Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/milton-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Milton Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: 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: 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, 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.