FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Skamania County, Washington

Sister Rocks Lookout Site

Also known as Sisters Rock

L-4 cab reported built 1931 on Sister Rocks; cab now gone, firefinder post reported standing; reached on foot by trail.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab gone; the main center firefinder post was reported still standing.

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. Reached on foot from the Observation Peak Trail; the site lies within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Leave the Observation Peak Trail and turn onto the Sister Rocks Trail; Willhite lists a hiking distance of 1.6 miles.

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
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,261 ft (1,299 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Skamania County, Washington
Coordinates
45.93413, −122.04616
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-sister-rocks

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. 1912 EventLookout symbol shown on the 1912 Columbia National Forest mapSource: willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1912 and 1931
  3. 1931 BuiltL-4 cab reported as builtSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1934 EventPanoramic view of the site, captioned 7-12-1934Source: firetower.org
  5. No record between 1934 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register as US 1342, WA 242Source: firetower.org
  7. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Sister Rocks is a pair of rocky prominences beside the Trapper Creek Wilderness, in Skamania County, Washington.1,2 A 1912 Columbia National Forest map already marks a lookout symbol there.3 WillhiteWeb suggests the site may have been one of the earliest in the area, since it sits just north of the 1902 Yacolt Burn.3

The lookout was an L-4 cab, reported as built in 1931.2,4 A panoramic view of the site taken in 1934 is credited to the National Archives' Pacific Northwest Region.2

The cab is gone now.2,4 Willhite reports that the main center firefinder post still stands.3 Visitors walk in: his route leaves the Observation Peak Trail and turns onto the Sister Rocks Trail, a hike he lists as 1.6 miles.3 An Oregon Hikers guide lists the walk as a short hike to a rocky viewpoint, and notes a vertical rusting pipe on the higher rock, though nobody seems to know what it was for.1 The site lies within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, and the U.S. Forest Service administers it.2

  1. Sister Rocks Viewpoint, Oregon Hikers Field Guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Sister_Rocks (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Sister Rocks Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/sister-rocks-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Sister Rocks Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com: Fire Lookouts, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/sister_rocks/lookout_266.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Sisters Rock Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/sistersrock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Sister Rocks Lookout panoramic 7-12-1934 (N)
Sister Rocks Lookout panoramic 7-12-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sister Rocks Lookout panoramic 7-12-1934 (SE)
Sister Rocks Lookout panoramic 7-12-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sister Rocks Lookout panoramic 7-12-1934 (SW)
Sister Rocks Lookout panoramic 7-12-1934 (SW) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sister Rocks Lookout site - firefinder pole
Sister Rocks Lookout site - firefinder polePhoto: Eric Willhite, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sister Rocks Lookout site - south view
Sister Rocks Lookout site - south viewPhoto: Eric Willhite, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sister Rocks Lookout site - west view
Sister Rocks Lookout site - west viewPhoto: Eric Willhite, via 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. 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
  5. 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.