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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Oval Peak Lookout Site

Okanogan County, WA summit site: an L-4 cab dated 1940 was removed or destroyed in 1950, and one researcher doubts a structure ever stood there.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed or destroyed in 1950, per the sources. Willhite doubts a lookout structure ever stood on the summit.

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
Wikipedia says there is a summit register and that talus can make climbing difficult.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab, dated 1940 in the registerThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1940
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,798 ft (2,682 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.28716, −120.42510
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-oval-peak

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. 1940 BuiltL-4 cab dated 1940 in the register and firelookout.com; Willhite reports the same through the Kresek Inventory but doubts a structure ever stoodSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1950 Destroyedfirelookout.com and Willhite (citing the Kresek Inventory) say the cab was destroyed in 1950Sources: firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1950 RemovedRegister says the L-4 cab was removed in 1950Source: firetower.org
  4. No record between 1950 and 2012
  5. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 18, 2012; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  6. 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 Oval Peak lookout site lies in Okanogan County, Washington, about 15 miles west-southwest of Twisp.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says an L-4 cab was built there in 1940.2

The register says that cab was removed in 1950, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.2,1 Willhite repeats the 1950 loss from the Kresek Inventory, but he has not located any map that marks a lookout or route to the summit, and he doubts a structure was ever there.3

Wikipedia places the peak in the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness, which sits inside the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.4 The register names the Okanogan National Forest instead.2 The summit has a register, and Wikipedia says climbing can be difficult because of talus on the slopes.4 No source describes what, if anything, remains of a lookout at the site today.

  1. Oval Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/ovalpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Oval Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/oval-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Oval Peak Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/oval_peak_lookout/national_forest_108.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Oval Peak, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oval_Peak (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, 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.