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Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Soda Springs Lookout Site

Chelan County, WA L-4 lookout on a knob in the Wenatchee National Forest, built in the 1930s and now gone; concrete footings are reported, reached by a short walk from the Soda Springs Campground road.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register and Firelookout.com say the tower is gone; footings were reported by a 2009 trip report and in Willhite's photos

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
Trail
Park at the Soda Springs Campground entrance road and walk through open woods around the base of the knob, about a quarter mile with 150 feet of gain. Cross signs mark a National Forest and private land boundary about halfway up. Willhite warns against continuing south toward a large rock quarry

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 tower (register); Willhite reports an L-4 cab and estimates a tower about 30 feet tall from the 1934 panorama heightThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
Unknown
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,500 ft (762 m)
Agency
Wenatchee National Forest (per the register)
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
47.85899, −120.96599
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-soda-springs

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 3.9 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. 1934 EventPanorama photos taken August 24, 1934, reportedly from about 45 feet; Willhite infers a tower of about 30 feet. Year of construction not given; the register says the 1930sSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 2009
  3. 2009 EventTrip report (22 Aug 2009) finds four concrete foundation blocks on a rocky knollSource: nwhikers.net
  4. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 28, 2012 as US 1423, WA 323Source: firetower.org
  5. 2017 EventWillhite photo captions, some labeled September 2017, describe footingsSource: willhiteweb.com
  6. 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.

The Soda Springs lookout stood on a knob in Chelan County, Washington, in the Wenatchee National Forest.1,2 Firelookout.com puts the site seven miles west of Lake Wenatchee.3 A 2009 trip report calls Soda Springs a canyon campground, a few miles upstream of Lake Wenatchee on the Little Wenatchee River.4

The register dates the tower to the 1930s and calls it an L-4 tower.1 Panorama photos were taken there on August 24, 1934.5 Willhite notes that the 1934 panoramas were shot from 45 feet, which suggests a tower of about 30 feet, and he reports an L-4 cab on it.2

Elevation estimates differ. The register gives 2,500 feet, Willhite gives 2,440 feet, and the trip report gives 2,451 feet.1,2,4

The register says the tower is now gone, and Firelookout.com lists it as gone.1,3 Washington Lookouts also lists it as removed.5 In 2009 a trip report found four concrete foundation blocks on a rocky knoll.4 Willhite's photos, some labeled September 2017, show footings spaced far apart, with all four visible in one view.2

Willhite suggests parking by the campground's entrance road, then walking through open woods around the knob's base.2 The hike is about a quarter mile with 150 feet of gain.2 Roughly midway, signs mark where National Forest land meets private land.2 The footings are at the highest point of the knob.2 He calls the access easy, though the route is unmarked on the ground, and he warns against continuing south, where a large rock quarry lies.2 No source we read says whether the top is open to the public.

  1. Soda Springs Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/soda-springs-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Soda Springs Lookout, Little Wenatchee River, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/soda_springs_lookout/little_wenatchee_244.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Soda Springs Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/sodasprings.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. In search of the Soda Springs lookout (trip report), NWHikers.net, https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7987016 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Soda Springs, Forest Lookouts, Washington Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/soda-springs.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Soda Springs Lookout panoramic 8-24-1934 (N)
Soda Springs Lookout panoramic 8-24-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Soda Springs Lookout panoramic 8-24-1934 (SE)
Soda Springs Lookout panoramic 8-24-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Soda Springs Lookout panoramic 8-24-1934 (SW)
Soda Springs Lookout panoramic 8-24-1934 (SW) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Soda Springs Lookout site
Soda Springs Lookout sitePhoto: Eric Willhite, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Soda Springs Lookout site
Soda Springs Lookout sitePhoto: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, 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, 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. 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, status, agency, 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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