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Fire lookout · Yakima County, Washington

Signal Peak Lookout

Yakama Reservation lookout: a 1935 wooden tower, then a 68-foot Aermotor tower moved from Panther Creek in 1964; access by Yakama Nation tour only.

Tribal land: permission required

This site is on tribal land. Ask the tribe for permission before visiting, and follow its rules. On Yakama Reservation land, closed to the public. Willhite gives access as restricted, by Yakama Nation tour only. The 2019 visits were tribal tours arranged with the Yakama Nation.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Tribal land: permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
The sources describe only tribal tours, not public visits. Ask the Yakama Nation before planning any visit.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower68-foot all-steel Aermotor tower, moved here from Panther Creek in 1964The design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Height
8 ft (2.4 m)
Elevation
5,103 ft (1,555 m)
Agency
Yakima Indian Agency (Yakama Nation)
Land
Tribal land
Location
Yakima County, Washington
Coordinates
46.22709, −121.13735
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-signal-peak-2

View from the cab

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History

Then and now

  1. 1920 BuiltFirst lookout: a pole tower with a tent camp.Sources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1920 and 1935
  3. 1935 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  4. 1935 Replaced by a new structureA three-legged, 55-foot wooden tower with an 8-by-8-foot cab and ground house replaced the 1920 pole tower.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1940 StaffedA December 1940 Goldendale newspaper item reported two lookouts sending twice-daily short-wave radio reports to the Satus Pass station.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1940 and 1964
  7. 1964 MovedA 68-foot Aermotor steel tower was moved here from Panther Creek and replaced the 1935 wooden tower.Sources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com, firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1964 and 2019
  9. 2019 EventThe Yakama Nation gave a small group a spring and a fall guided tour in exchange for volunteer help to open and close a lookout for the season.Source: trailchick.com
  10. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register on April 13, 2022.Source: nhlr.org
  11. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Signal Peak sits on the Yakama Reservation in Yakima County, in the middle of Yakama Nation forest land, about 17 miles east of Mount Adams.1,2,3

The first lookout here was a pole tower with a tent camp, dated to 1920.1,4,5,3 In 1935 it was replaced by a wooden tower on three legs, 55 feet tall, with an 8-by-8-foot cab and a ground house with living quarters.1,2,3

In December 1940 a Goldendale paper reported that two lookouts stationed here radioed in twice a day to the Satus Pass station.5 The current tower is a 68-foot Aermotor steel tower that was moved here from Panther Creek in 1964.1,4,2,3 The register and Willhite both note that it has no guy wires.1,3 Firelookout.com says the lookout is staffed in summer, though that listing is undated.2

Most of the reservation is off-limits to non-tribal visitors.4 The register lists the Yakima Indian Agency as administrator.1 Willhite gives the access as restricted, by Yakama Nation tour only.3 TrailChick reports that in 2019 the Yakama Nation gave a small group a spring and a fall guided tour, in return for volunteers who help open and close a lookout for the season. That page names Satus in the sentence, which may be a typo for Signal.4

The register listed the lookout on April 13, 2022.1

The sources describe tribal tours, not public visits, so treat the tower as a working site and do not climb it.4,3

  1. Signal Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/signal-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Signal Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/signalpeak163.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Signal Peak Fire Lookout, Yakama Nation, Willhite Washington fire lookouts, https://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/signal_peak/yakama_nation_221.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Signal Peak Lookout, TrailChick, https://www.trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/signal-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Signal Peak, Forest Lookouts of Washington, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/signal-peak1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Signal Peak Lookout - 2019
Signal Peak Lookout - 2019 (2019)Photo: Christine Estrada, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout and Heliport Warehouse
Lookout and Heliport WarehousePhoto: Christine Estrada, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1038 - Three sided tower
1038 - Three sided towerPhoto: Christine Estrada Collection, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Signal Peak in 1938
Signal Peak in 1938 (1938)Photo: the Dave Bula collection and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Signal Peak in 1960
Signal Peak in 1960 (1960)Photo: the Dave Bula collection and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Signal Peak in 2009
Signal Peak in 2009 (2009)Photo: the Dave Bula collection and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Signal Peak Lookout
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1935
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1935
    • TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts: 1964

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: 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
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: height, ownership, access, photos, 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) 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. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: design, photos TrailChick (trailchick.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, coordinates, elevation, lookout type, years built). The guide's text is not reproduced; its card photos are listed with credit to TrailChick, for the project's photo mirroring. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.