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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

South Creek Butte Lookout Site

L-5 cab built 1934 in the Okanogan National Forest near Twisp; abandoned 1952; Firelookout says the cab has since departed; no current site description found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Abandoned in 1952; Firelookout says the cab has since departed; no source describes what remains

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
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,670 ft (2,338 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.43722, −120.61190
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-south-creek-butte

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 4.0 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 BuiltL-5 cab built (register, Firelookout, Willhite); site at 7,670 ft (2,338 m)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1952
  3. 1952 AbandonedRegister and Willhite both give 1952 as the abandonment yearSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1952 and 2012
  5. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 19, 2012 as US 1467, WA 367Source: 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The South Creek Butte lookout had an L-5 cab built in 1934.1,2 The site is in Okanogan County, Washington.1 It stood in the Okanogan National Forest, about 23 miles west-northwest of Twisp, at 7,670 feet, or 2,338 metres.1,3 Willhite's site has photographs captioned 1934 looking southwest, southeast and north, plus one captioned 1946.2

The Former Fire Lookout Sites register listed the site on November 19, 2012, on the nomination of Ray Kresek, under the number US 1467, WA 367.1

Abandonment came in 1952, six years after the 1946 photograph.1,2 Firelookout reports that the cab is no longer there.3

The register lists the U.S. Forest Service as administrator.1 Willhite's page says more will be added after a visit.2 No source describes what remains at the site today, and none says whether the public may visit.

  1. South Creek Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/south-creek-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. South Creek Butte Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/south_creek_butte_lookout/twisp_river_100.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. South Creek Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/southcreekbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of South Creek Butte Lookout Site
Photo: 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. 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, 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.