FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Skookum Peak Lookout Site

Skookum Peak, Pend Oreille County WA: a 1937 10-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, abandoned in the 1950s; gone, with footings and bed frames photographed on site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Listed as gone (firelookout.com) and removed (Washington lookouts index); WillhiteWeb photos, undated on the page, show footings, bed frames and a flagpole or telephone pole still standing

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. The mountain is public land, but the road from Bead Lake Road crosses private parcels and is blocked by a gate and trespass signs. WillhiteWeb withheld the route to avoid trouble with neighbors

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
No route published. Approaches cross private land and the Bead Lake Road route is gated and posted

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower10-foot pole tower with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1937
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
3,261 ft (994 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Colville National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.30331, −117.19038
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-skookum-peak

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 4.2 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. 1937 BuiltBuilt as a 10-foot pole tower with an L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1937 and 2020
  3. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 20, 2020 as FFLOS US 2033, WA 503; nominated by Tammy McLeodSource: firetower.org
  4. 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.

Skookum Peak sits at 3,261 feet in the Colville National Forest, in Pend Oreille County, Washington.1

The lookout went up in 1937. It was a 10-foot pole tower topped with an L-4 cab.1,2,3

It was abandoned in the 1950s.1,2,3 One listing calls the tower gone, and another lists it as removed.2,4

At the site, WillhiteWeb's undated photos show footings, bed frames, what may be a stovepipe, and a flagpole or telephone pole still standing.3

Skookum Peak itself is public land, but the road from Bead Lake Road crosses private parcels.3 A gate and trespass signs block that road, and the WillhiteWeb author left out a route to avoid trouble with neighbors.3

If you plan a visit, stay off posted private land and check the current access with the Colville National Forest first.

  1. Skookum Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/skookum-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Skookum Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/skookumpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Skookum Peak Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/skookum_peak_lookout/tower_215.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Skookum Peak, Forest Lookouts (Washington), washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/skookum-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, 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, height, 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.