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Fire lookout · Pierce County, Washington

Ohop Lookout Site

Pierce County, WA: a 70-ft timber lookout built in 1937, used by the AWS in 1942, and removed in 1969. The site is on Hancock timberland that requires a permit.

Permission required

You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. Land is part of Hancock Timber's Eatonville Forest; WillhiteWeb says a permit is required

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in 1969; no source we read describes remains on the ground

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About 5 miles on roads from Eatonville to a gate; per WillhiteWeb a permit is required

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower70-foot timber tower with L-6 cab and ground cabin living quartersThe design: L-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1937
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,335 ft (712 m)
Agency
Washington Division of Forestry/DNR
Land
State land
Location
Pierce County, Washington
Coordinates
46.90021, −122.21856
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-ohop

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. 1937 Built70-foot timber tower with L-6 cab; phone lines placed the same yearSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1942 EventUsed by the AWS, activated March 9, 1942Source: willhiteweb.com
  3. No record between 1942 and 1969
  4. 1969 RemovedStructure lasted until 1969 and was removedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1969 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered June 18, 2012 as US 1292, WA 192Source: 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.

Ohop Lookout stood in Pierce County, Washington, at 2,335 feet (712 meters).1,2

Lookout-history sites list the Washington Division of Forestry/DNR as the agency.1,2 Completed in 1937, the lookout was a timber tower 70 feet tall, fitted with an L-6 cab, and a ground cabin provided the living quarters.1,2,3 Phone lines went in that same year.3

In 1942 the site was used by the AWS, which was activated on March 9, 1942.3 The lookout kept working for fire after that, and the structure stood until 1969, when it was removed.1,2,3

WillhiteWeb calls the spot the Ohop Benchmark.3 The author was there in 2003, when the views were good after a timber harvest, but the trees have since grown back.3 We found no source that describes tower remains on the ground.

Hancock Timber bought the tree farm, which now falls within its Eatonville Forest, and entry there requires a permit.3 The route on WillhiteWeb starts in Eatonville and runs about five miles on roads to a gate.3

  1. Ohop Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/ohop-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Ohop Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/ohop.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Ohop Lookout - Ohop Benchmark, WillhiteWeb, http://www.willhiteweb.com/puget_sound_hiking/ohop_lookout/eatonville_296.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Ohop 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, register numbers, agency, 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: ownership, 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.