FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Kittitas County, Washington

Red Mountain

1932 L-5 cab on Red Mountain, Kittitas County, WA, abandoned 1948 and listed as gone; no source describes the summit today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab abandoned in 1948; register says it is now gone

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

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-5 cabThe design: L-5
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1932
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Wenatchee National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Kittitas County, Washington
Coordinates
47.30172, −120.76081
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-red-mountain-2

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. 1932 BuiltBuilt in 1932 as an L-5 cabSource: firetower.org
  2. 1934 EventPanoramic photographs taken August 22, 1934 (north, southeast, southwest); credited to National Archives Pacific Northwest RegionSource: firetower.org
  3. 1948 AbandonedCab abandoned; register says it is now goneSource: firetower.org
  4. No record between 1948 and 2012
  5. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 28, 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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Red Mountain rises in Kittitas County, Washington, on the Wenatchee National Forest, and the register gives the lookout site an elevation of 5,703 feet.1 Its register point is 47 degrees 23.7 minutes north and 121 degrees 8.7 minutes west.1 A lookout cab went up there in 1932, built to an L-5 design.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Washington list gives the site's type as Ground.2

The register dates the cab's abandonment to 1948 and says it is now gone.1 Three panoramic views from August 22, 1934, labelled north, southeast and southwest, are credited to the National Archives Pacific Northwest Region.1

No source I found describes the summit today. The register's photo list also includes an undated picture captioned "Debris," credited to Jeff Ruckle.1 It does not say what is on the site now.

  1. Red Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/red-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Washington Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wa/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.