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Fire lookout · Yakima County, Washington

Mount Aix Lookout Site

Yakima County, WA summit cabin built 1923, staffed in the 1920s, destroyed in 1961; no source describes what remains on the summit today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cabin destroyed in 1961; no source describes what, if anything, remains on the summit.

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 on foot by a trail from the Mt. Aix trailhead on Bumping Lake Road; no closure or permit appears in the sources read

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Willhite lists 6 miles with 4,200 feet of gain; the last few miles of road are rocky but passable by regular cars

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabD-6 cupola cabin on the summitThe design: D-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1923
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,776 ft (2,370 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Wenatchee National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Yakima County, Washington
Coordinates
46.79499, −121.25590
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-mount-aix

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 4.2 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. 1923 BuiltD-6 cupola cabin on the summitSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1923 First staffedLookout reported a fire 36 miles away that yearSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1924 StaffedErnest BeeksSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1929 StaffedLookout EdwardsSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1931 StaffedReport that lightning struck the cabin twelve times in one nightSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1931 and 1961
  7. 1961 BurnedRegister says destroyed by fire; firelookout.com and Willhite say destroyed in 1961 without naming a causeSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. No record between 1961 and 2012
  9. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterUS 1353, WA 253; registered July 19, 2012Source: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Mount Aix stands in the William O. Douglas Wilderness, on the Wenatchee National Forest in Yakima County, Washington.1,2 It lies about 24 miles east of Mount Rainier.3

A D-6 cupola cabin went up on the summit in 1923. That same year, the lookout reported a fire 36 miles away.1,2,4

Ernest Beeks was the lookout in 1924.2,4 He suggested improvements to his supervisor, including porch space with concrete floors.2,4 In 1929 Lookout Edwards proposed painting the tops of lookout houses white, with the peak's name on them, as navigation aids for mail planes and other aircraft.2,4 A 1931 report said lightning struck the cabin twelve times in one night.2,4

The Forest Fire Lookout Association register says a fire destroyed the cabin in 1961.1 Firelookout.com gives 1923 to 1961 as the cabin's dates, without naming a cause.3 Willhite reports a USGS benchmark placed next to the west wall that year, and says the lookout was reported destroyed in 1961.2

The sources describe the cabin as gone since 1961, and none describes what, if anything, is left on the summit now.1,3,2

The peak is reached on foot. Willhite describes a 6-mile route with a 4,200-foot gain from the signed Mt. Aix trailhead, reached along Bumping Lake Road.2 He says the last few miles of road are rocky, but regular cars can make it.2 Willhite's page mentions no closure or permit for the trail.2

  1. Mount Aix Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/mount-aix-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Mount Aix - William O Douglas Wilderness, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/hiking/bumping_lake/mount_aix_174.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Mt. Aix Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/aix.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Mount Aix, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/mount-aix.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Aix 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: 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.