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Fire lookout · Kittitas County, Washington

Polallie Mountain Lookout Site

Kittitas County, WA lookout on Polallie Ridge: cabin about 1921, 25-ft L-4 tower 1936/37, ended 1947 or 1965 (sources differ); footings remain in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register says it is now gone; Willhite's photos show a footing and an old cabin foundation on the site

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 route inside the Alpine Lakes Wilderness; no closure or restriction is described in the sources read

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Pete Lake Trail, then Tired Creek Trail 2.3 miles to the ridgetop, then 0.2 miles on the Polallie Ridge Trail; road paved until its last mile of good gravel (Willhite)

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerLog cabin with open-air cupola (about 1921), replaced by a 25-foot pole tower with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1921
Height
25 ft (7.6 m)
Elevation
5,482 ft (1,671 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Wenatchee National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Kittitas County, Washington
Coordinates
47.47269, −121.18070
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-polallie-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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.7 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. 1921 BuiltLog cabin with open-air cupola, developed about 1921 (register and firelookout.com); Willhite says 'early 1920s'Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1930 EventWenatchee Daily World item, as quoted on washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, said a lookout cabin would be built on Polallie Ridge that yearSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 StaffedClifford Stipp named as lookout personnel by firelookout.com; no other staffing named in the sources readSource: firelookout.com
  4. 1936 Replaced by a new structureRegister and firelookout.com say a 25-ft pole L-4 replaced the cabin in 1936; Willhite dates the tower to 1937Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1947 AbandonedRegister and firelookout.com say abandoned in 1947; Willhite says the inventory suggests 1947 but images show it still around afterwardSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1947 and 1965
  7. 1965 BurnedFirelookout.com only ('burned in 1965'); Willhite cites a 1964 hiking guide that mentions the lookout and a 1965 map labelSources: firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. No record between 1965 and 2012
  9. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 28, 2012 as US 1419, WA 319; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Polallie Mountain sits in the Wenatchee National Forest in Kittitas County, Washington, at 5,482 feet, just inside the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.1,2

A log cabin with an open-air cupola on its roof stood on the ridge by about 1921.1,3,2 A May 1930 item in the Wenatchee Daily World, quoted on a lookout history site, said a lookout cabin would be built on Polallie Ridge that year.4 The register says a 25-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab replaced the cabin in 1936.1,3 Willhite dates the tower to 1937.2

Firelookout.com lists Clifford Stipp as lookout personnel in 1933, the only name it gives.3

Sources disagree on how the lookout ended. According to the register, it was abandoned in 1947 and no longer stands.1 Willhite says the inventory points to 1947 as the year the tower was abandoned, yet his images show the lookout still there well beyond that year, and a 1964 hiking guide mentions it.2 Firelookout.com says it was abandoned in 1947 and burned in 1965.3

The register says the lookout is gone.1 Willhite's photos show a footing with relics collected around it, plus an old cabin foundation.2 Pavement covers the road to the trailhead except its final mile, which is good gravel.2 From there, Willhite starts up the Pete Lake Trail, turns onto the Tired Creek Trail, and climbs 2.3 miles to a ridgetop, where the Polallie Ridge Trail runs to the site 0.2 miles farther on.2 The site is reached on foot.2

  1. Polallie Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/polallie-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Polallie Ridge Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/alpine_lakes_wilderness/polallie_ridge_lookout/tired_creek_368.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Polallie Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/polalliemtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Polallie Mountain - Forest Lookouts, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/polallie-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Polallie Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1937
1937 (1937)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Polallie Mountain Lookout 1965
Polallie Mountain Lookout 1965 (1965)Photo: Rex Kamstra collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, staffing, 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

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