FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Snohomish County, Washington

North Fork Bench Lookout Site

Snohomish County ridge above Bedal Campground: an L-4 cab dated 1936 and gone by 1955; a 2015 ridge search found no signs and the exact site is unconfirmed.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab gone by 1955; WillhiteWeb searched the ridge in 2015 and found no signs, and the exact site is not confirmed

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. Ridge above Bedal Campground on national forest land; WillhiteWeb reports close gravel road access, and no closure appears in the sources read

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Close to the gravel road with potholes and very little elevation gain; the exact site is unmarked and may lie below the railroad grade, per WillhiteWeb

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
1,720 ft (524 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Snohomish County, Washington
Coordinates
48.10343, −121.37796
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-north-fork-bench

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 4.3 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. 1935 EventPanoramic photographs taken from the lookout on August 8, 1935 (credited to George Clisby by Forest Lookouts)Sources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1936 BuiltL-4 cab built in 1936 per the Register, Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb; the 1935 panoramas predate this date and the sources do not explain whySources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. No record between 1936 and 1955
  4. 1955 RemovedCab gone by 1955 per the Register, Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb; Forest Lookouts marks it RemovedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1955 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 24, 2012 as US 1254, WA 154; nominated by Ray KresekSource: 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.

North Fork Bench is a small ridge in Snohomish County, in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, about 15 miles southeast of Darrington.1,2 WillhiteWeb places it just above Bedal Campground and the former North Fork Guard Station.3

The lookout was an L-4 cab, and the Register dates it to 1936.1 WillhiteWeb reports the same build year.3 The panoramic photographs taken from the lookout are dated August 8, 1935, a year before that build date, and the sources do not explain the difference.1,3,4 Forest Lookouts credits the panoramas to George Clisby.4

The cab was gone by 1955, according to the Register, Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb.1,2,3

WillhiteWeb's author searched the whole ridge in 2015 and found no signs of the former lookout.3 The exact site is not confirmed. A 1930s sketch map shows the lookout below the railroad grade, and the author believes that is where it stood. The page also points to a flat, disturbed spot near the road switchback at about 1,420 feet as a very possible location.3

The site is close to the road, a good gravel surface with potholes, and the climb involves little elevation gain.3 Near the high point where an old road crosses the ridge, the page describes a large amount of old dumping debris.3 No source we read describes current access or closures, so check with the Forest Service before you go.

  1. North Fork Bench Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/north-fork-bench-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. North Fork Bench Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/northforkbench.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. North Fork Bench Former Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington/fire_lookouts/north_fork_bench/lookout_site_224.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. North Fork Bench - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (Washington), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/north-fork-bench.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

North Fork Bench Lookout panoramic 8-8-1935 (N)
North Fork Bench Lookout panoramic 8-8-1935 (N) (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
North Fork Bench Lookout panoramic 8-8-1935 (SE)
North Fork Bench Lookout panoramic 8-8-1935 (SE) (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
North Fork Bench Lookout panoramic 8-8-1935 (SW)
North Fork Bench Lookout panoramic 8-8-1935 (SW) (1935)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, 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.