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Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Poe Mountain Lookout Site

Chelan County, WA ridge-top site of an L-4 cab built in 1933 and taken down in 1970; the Poe Mountain Trail reaches it inside Glacier Peak Wilderness.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The cab came down in 1970; sources differ on whether it was removed or destroyed. Willhite's photos show a footing, an eye bolt and an anchor rod.

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. Hiking trail inside Glacier Peak Wilderness; wilderness regulations apply.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Poe Mountain Trail from the Little Wenatchee Ford Trailhead. Willhite lists 3 miles and 2,000 feet of gain, and advises higher clearance on the access road.

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
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,015 ft (1,833 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
47.91622, −121.06234
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-poe-mountain

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. 1933 BuiltL-4 cab built in 1933Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1933 StaffedMarshall Stenerson named as the Poe Mountain lookout-fireman in June 1933Sources: firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1933 and 1957
  4. 1957 StaffedDonald Reed Theoe was the lookout, per WillhiteSource: willhiteweb.com
  5. 1970 RemovedRegister says removed; FireLookout.com and Willhite say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1970 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 28, 2012 as US 1418, WA 318; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  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.

Poe Mountain is a ridge-top site above the Little Wenatchee River in Chelan County, within the Wenatchee National Forest.1,2,3 An L-4 cab was built there in 1933.1,4,2

A June 1933 item from The Leavenworth Echo, as quoted by Forest Lookouts, names Marshall Stenerson as the Poe Mountain lookout-fireman on the Lake Wenatchee Ranger District.5,4

Donald Reed Theoe was the lookout in 1957.2 Willhite describes a summer so wet that no fire broke out in the area, leaving Theoe with plenty of time to search for dry firewood.2 Ten people visited him that season, and one later married him.2

The cab came down in 1970. The register says it was removed, while FireLookout.com and Willhite say it was destroyed.1,4,2

Willhite's trip report includes photographs captioned as a footing, an eye bolt and an anchor rod.2

Today the site lies within Glacier Peak Wilderness.3 The Forest Service describes the Poe Mountain Trail as steep and dry, leading from the Little Wenatchee Ford Trailhead to an old lookout site, and notes that wilderness regulations apply.3 Willhite lists the hike at 3 miles with 2,000 feet of gain.2

  1. Poe Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/poe-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Poe Mountain Trail - Poe Mountain Lookout, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/poe_mountain/wenatchee_ridge_243.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Poe Mountain Trail, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/okanogan-wenatchee/recreation/trails/poe-mountain-trail (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Poe Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/poemtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Poe Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/poe-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Poe Mountain 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, 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.