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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Mount Hull Lookout Site

Okanogan County summit tower built 1934 with an L-6 cab; Aircraft Warning post 1942-43; tower removed in the 1950s, cabin burned in the 1960s; footings remain.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in the 1950s and the cabin burned in the 1960s; WillhiteWeb photo captions show two footings at 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. Gravel road from Chesaw Road to Summit Lake; a high-clearance vehicle can reach the summit. National Forest covers most of the mountain.

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Most visitors park at Summit Lake; a high-clearance 4WD can drive to the summit, per WillhiteWeb

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower72-foot pole tower with L-6 cab, built with a log cabinThe design: L-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
72 ft (21.9 m)
Elevation
4,617 ft (1,407 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (national forest named inconsistently across sources)
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.89549, −119.33808
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-mount-hull

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 4.3 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 BuiltRoad completed and tower construction started in late May 1934; register describes a 72-foot pole tower with L-6 cab and log cabinSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1940 AbandonedRegister and firelookout.com say abandoned in the 1940s; the year shown stands for the decadeSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  3. 1942 EventAircraft Warning Service station activated March 27, 1942Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1943 ClosedAWS station deactivated July 1, 1943; site reverted to Forest Service controlSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1950 RemovedTower removed in the 1950s (decade only in the sources); cabin given to the Oroville Boy ScoutsSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  6. 1960 BurnedLog cabin burned in the 1960s (decade only); Willhite says only a heli-pad was left on the summitSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1960 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered February 2, 2011Source: firetower.org
  9. 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.

The Mount Hull lookout stood near Oroville in Okanogan County, Washington.1 A road to the site was completed in late May 1934, and construction of a tower started there that month.1,2 The register describes the tower as a 72-foot pole tower with an L-6 cab, built alongside a log cabin.3

We found no source naming anyone who worked the lookout as a lookout.3,1,4,2 In 1942 the Aircraft Warning Service used the site to watch for enemy aircraft coming in from Canada.1 The station was deactivated on July 1, 1943, and the site went back to Forest Service control.1,2

Sources also disagree on the national forest. The Weebly page names the Colville National Forest and quotes a 1944 report that refers to the Chelan National Forest, while firelookout.com names the Okanogan.2,4

The register says the tower was abandoned in the 1940s and removed in the 1950s, and that the log cabin was given to the Oroville Boy Scouts.3 Willhite says the cabin later burned in the 1960s, leaving only a heli-pad on the summit.1

Photo captions on WillhiteWeb show two footings at the summit, and they describe very little view from there.1 Willhite says the site was visited in 2020. The route leaves the Chesaw Road, and Willhite expects the gravel to be well graded as far as Summit Lake.1 A high-clearance 4WD can reach the summit, although most people leave their vehicles at the lake.1

Most of the mountain is National Forest land, and its southwest face has a large rock-climbing area.1 No tower stands there to climb.3

  1. Mount Hull Fire Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/mount_hull/lookout_090.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Mount Hull - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Washington Lookouts (weebly), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/mount-hull.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Mount Hull Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/mount-hull-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Mt. Hull Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/mthull.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Hull Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
9/13/2001
9/13/2001 (2001)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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, 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.