FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Mount Bonaparte Lookout

Also known as Bonaparte Mountain

Active Forest Service lookout on the Colville National Forest, with a 1961 flattop tower and a 1914 cabin that was the forest's first permanent lookout.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. reached via trail #306 after hiking to the mountain from several trailheads

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
last ascent via Bonaparte Trail #306
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 flattop cab on 20' timber towerThe design: R-6
Built of
Wood
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
7,215 ft (2,199 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.78512, −119.12206
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-mount-bonaparte

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 4.2 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. 1904 First staffedlone watchman with tent shelter on the summitSource: en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1914 Built12x12 ft log cabin with viewing platform, designed by Forest Supervisor C.C. Reed; first permanent lookout on the Colville National ForestSource: en.wikipedia.org
  3. No record between 1914 and 1930
  4. 1930 Rebuilttaller lookout with crow's-nest cab built alongside the 1914 cabin, used through 1960Source: en.wikipedia.org
  5. No record between 1930 and 1961
  6. 1961 BuiltSource: firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page
  7. 1961 Replaced by a new structurecurrent 15x15 ft R-6 flattop cab on 20 ft timber tower built (firelookout.com gives 1963)Sources: en.wikipedia.org, firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1961 and 1996
  9. 1996 Added to the National Historic Lookout Registerregistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, February 5, 1996Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2005 RestoredMajor renovation including a new roof; the lookout was unavailable for use while the work went on.Source: firelookout.org
  11. No record between 2005 and 2021
  12. 2021 FireWalker and Spur Mountain fires came close to the summit areaSource: en.wikipedia.org
  13. 2025 RestoredVolunteers finished repairs before reopening and made further repairs and restorations to the lookout and the historic 1914 lookout cabin during the season.Source: firelookout.org
  14. 2025 Staffedstaffing said to have transitioned from Forest Service to volunteersSource: en.wikipedia.org
  15. 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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Mount Bonaparte has had someone watching for smoke since about 1904, when a lone watchman camped on the summit with just a tent for shelter.1 A permanent cabin followed in 1914, a 12-by-12-foot log structure with a pyramidal roof and a small viewing platform, designed by Forest Supervisor C.C. Reed.1 It was the first permanent lookout built on the Colville National Forest, and it's still there today, now used as a storage building.2,1,3

A taller lookout went up next to the cabin around 1930, with a crow's-nest cab perched on its own tower, and it served through 1960.1 The structure standing today, a 15-by-15-foot flattop cab on a 20-foot timber tower, was built in 1961 (some sources say 1963) and remains in service.3,2 It received a round of maintenance in the 2000s that added a hip roof.3

Named lookout staff recorded over the decades include Sidney Swain in 1923, B. Forrester in 1929, and William Foote in 1952.3 The Forest Service kept the tower staffed every fire season for decades, and according to Wikipedia that continued under Forest Service control until 2025, when staffing shifted to volunteers.1 The surrounding area has come close to burning more than once; the 2021 Walker and Spur Mountain fires reportedly approached the summit without reaching it.1

Both the 1961 tower and the original 1914 cabin are listed together on the National Historic Lookout Register, registered February 5, 1996, and the 1914 cabin on its own is separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places.2,1 The lookout sits at roughly 7,259 feet in the Okanogan Highlands of north-central Washington, reachable by trail #306 after a hike up from one of several trailheads around the mountain.1 On clear days visitors can see the North Cascades, Chopaka and Baldy mountains, the Colville Reservation, and, at the horizon, Mount Rainier.1 It is not set up as a rental cabin; it remains an active or formerly active Forest Service lookout open to hikers who reach the summit.

  1. Mount Bonaparte Lookout, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Bonaparte_Lookout (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Mount Bonaparte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/mount-bonaparte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Mt. Bonaparte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/bonaparte.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Mount Bonaparte Lookout
Mount Bonaparte LookoutPhoto: willhiteweb.com, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Mt. Bonaparte in 1914
Mt. Bonaparte in 1914 (1914)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte L.O.
Mt. Bonaparte L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte L.O.
Mt. Bonaparte L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte L.O.
Mt. Bonaparte L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte L.O.
Mt. Bonaparte L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte L.O.
Mt. Bonaparte L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte L.O.
Mt. Bonaparte L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte L.O.
Mt. Bonaparte L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte in 1956
Mt. Bonaparte in 1956 (1956)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte in 1959
Mt. Bonaparte in 1959 (1959)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte in 1962
Mt. Bonaparte in 1962 (1962)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte in 1962a
Mt. Bonaparte in 1962a (1962)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte L.O.
Mt. Bonaparte L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte in 1991
Mt. Bonaparte in 1991 (1991)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Lookouts Jim & Wanda Caruthers in 1991
Lookouts Jim & Wanda Caruthers in 1991 (1991)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Bonaparte in 2008
Mt. Bonaparte in 2008 (2008)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, Rex Kamstra, and Tammy McLeod, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Mount Bonaparte Lookout
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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1961
    • OpenStreetMap: 1961
    • TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts: 1963

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, 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: 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: design, height, staffing, dates, photos, 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 Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: register numbers, access, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  7. 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
  8. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: photos, links 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
  9. 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
  10. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.