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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Old Baldy Lookout Site

L-4 cab on Old Baldy (Okanogan NF), built 1934 and removed or destroyed in 1953; a 1934 bulletin says a lookout occupied the summit in 1932 and 1933.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The cab was gone after 1953; the register says removed, two other pages say destroyed.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About one mile one way from a pass, gaining 1,500 feet; an easy off-trail hike once the first trail fades (Willhite)

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab on the summit, built in 1934The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,844 ft (2,391 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.58987, −119.95599
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-old-baldy

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 4.1 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. 1932 StaffedFireman-lookout occupied the site for a six-week period; radio set No. 73 usedSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 StaffedFireman-lookout occupied the site again for six weeks; PF Set No. 22 furnishedSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1934 BuiltL-4 cab built in the summer of 1934Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1934 and 1953
  5. 1953 DestroyedCab destroyed in 1953 per two pages; the register says removed that yearSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1953 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: November 18, 2012Source: FFLOS register entry
  8. 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.

Old Baldy is a 7,844-foot summit in the Okanogan National Forest, about nine miles west-northwest of Conconully.1,2

A Forest Service bulletin from April 1934, quoted on two of the pages, said a fireman-lookout had occupied the summit for a six-week period in each of the two years before.3,4 It also says radio set No. 73 was used in 1932.4 The L-4 cab itself went up in the summer of 1934, a date the register also gives.3,1

In 1950 a survey party sighted from the peak of the roof.3 A 1950 station description calls the cab a typical Forest Service lookout house.4

The register says the cab was removed in 1953.1 Two other pages say it was destroyed that year.2,3 In 1956 a USGS crew went to the summit to place a benchmark, and the lookout went unmentioned.3

Willhite visited in 2022.3 His photographs show a stovepipe on the summit, an old woodpile and a rock wall that is still standing.3

The route starts at a pass, where an early trail quickly fades.3 After that it is an easy off-trail hike of about a mile one way, with 1,500 feet of climbing.3 The summit lies in national forest land, and no source describes a closure or a permit requirement.1,2,3,4

  1. Old Baldy Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/old-baldy-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Old Baldy Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/oldbaldy.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Old Baldy Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/old_baldy_mountain/lookout_site_098.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Old Baldy - Forest Lookouts, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/old-baldy.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Old Baldy Lookout panoramic 9-19-1934 (N)
Old Baldy Lookout panoramic 9-19-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Old Baldy Lookout panoramic 9-19-1934 (SE)
Old Baldy Lookout panoramic 9-19-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Old Baldy Lookout panoramic 9-19-1934 (SW)
Old Baldy Lookout panoramic 9-19-1934 (SW) (1934)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, 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.