FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Steliko Lookout

Also known as Steliko Point

An L-4 cab built in 1947 on a Wenatchee National Forest lookout camp first used in 1925, now rented overnight through Recreation.gov.

Visit & stay

You can rent this lookout for overnight stays through recreation.gov.

Getting there
The lookout is accessible by SUV or four-wheel drive truck from mid-April to mid-November.

Overview The Steliko Lookout sits at an elevation of 2,586 feet in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. Built in 1947, the lookout was used by Forest Service personnel until the 1990’s. The peak is still used by staff during emergencies to get a view of the surrounding area. The lookout is accessible by SUV or four-wheel drive truck from mid-April to mid-November. The road is narrow and steep at the beginning, please use all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive to limit road damage. Mid-November – mid-April the lookout is only accessible by walking, skiing, snowshoeing, or snowmobiling the 1.5 miles up the road, depending on snow level it can be hazardous to travel to the lookout. The route to the lookout follows FS Road 5310 and is 1.5 miles long with 945 feet of elevation gain. The starting elevation is about 1300' and the ending elevation is about 2600'. The road averages 8-12' wide and becomes more narrow as snow accumulates. There is an average grade of 10% with a maximum grade of 25%. In Winter, up to 4+ feet of snow can accumulate on the road and surrounding area depending on the year. Recent upgrades to the building will make your stay comfortable, but are still primitive, guests should be prepared with their own supplies. If you are visiting Steliko during the Winter please read this document: Additional Winter Info Recreation Nearby roads and the Steliko Ridge trail offer opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, and dirt biking. Although you may still see the light of nearby houses from the top, the star gazing is still very good. A short drive up valley leads to other recreation sites like Silver Falls, Entiat Falls and many trails. Always check conditions before embarking on your next adventure. Facilities The 16x16 cabin sleeps four and is equipped with four single foam mattresses, two on regular frames and two on trundle style frames. Two foldable tables, a bench with a two-burner propane stove, a heater, and broom and dustpan are provided. There is a wall-mounted propane heater for guest use. There are instructions on how to use this heater inside the lookout. We cannot guarantee that visitors will be able to start the propane heater. Experienced users of this specific propane heater can typically get it started within 5 minutes. It may take an inexperienced user up to 30 minutes or more to get the heater started if at all. As such, visitors should be prepared to stay at the lookout without facility-provided heat. Here are the instructions for the heater and backup heater: Instructions There is a Little Buddy heater as a backup to the main heater. If you would like to use this backup heater, please bring your own 1lb. Propane Canister. Bring 3-4 one-pound canisters for 24 hours of use. There are special vents to the outside of the building these must be kept open at all times. There are solar-powered LED strip lights and a USB plug for devices. The solar power may not be powerful to charge the system during late November - February. We recommend brining additional battery-powered lights. Guests must bring their own water for drinking, cooking and washing. Guests must also bring their own cookware, dishes, bedding, first aid supplies, trash bags, entertainment and 10 essentials. An outhouse with a vault toilet is located 40 yards from the lookout. Bring extra toilet paper. A picnic table is outside the lookout. Winter Visitor Information: Additional Winter Info Natural Features Views from the lookout include Tyee Mountain, Stormy Mountain and east to the Waterville Plateau. The open hillsides are covered with balsam root and Lupine in the spring and guests can usually spot a mule deer or two as this is great winter range. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (509) 860-4267. Nearby Attractions Numerous forest roads are adjacent to the lookout and ready to be explored by bike, dirt bike, foot or truck. The Steliko Ridge trail is also adjacent to the lookout and is open to dirt bikes, mountain bikes, horses and hikers. This trail travles for approximately four miles out the ridge to the north.

Book on recreation.gov

Rental details from recreation.gov, checked 19 Oct 2026. Rules, fees and seasons change, so confirm on the booking page before you go. Data source: ridb.recreation.gov

Access

Open to the public. Overnight rental via Recreation.gov; reached by Forest Road 5310, 1.5 miles.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
1.5 mi on FS Road 5310, snow-free roughly mid-April to mid-November; otherwise foot, ski or snowshoe.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 ground cab, 10 ft squareThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1947
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
2,581 ft (787 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
47.74054, −120.34405
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 19 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-steliko

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

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. 1925 First staffedSite used as a Forest Service lookout camp before the current cab was builtSource: firelookout.com
  2. No record between 1925 and 1947
  3. 1947 BuiltCurrent 10-foot L-4 cabSource: firelookout.com
  4. No record between 1947 and 1990
  5. 1990 Last staffedRental listing says the Forest Service used it until the 1990sSource: recreation.gov
  6. No record between 1990 and 2011
  7. 2011 EventNHLR volunteer visit found it apparently abandoned: broken shutters, power line removed, no sign of recent useSource: nhlr.org
  8. 2015 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 3, 2015, nominated by Bob and Susan AdlerSource: nhlr.org
  9. 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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Steliko Point sits on a modest summit in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, seven miles northwest of Entiat, but it commands one of the more useful views in that stretch of the Cascades' east slope.1 The Forest Service first used the site as a lookout camp in 1925, watching for smoke from a simple station rather than a built tower.1 The small L-4 cab that stands there today, ten feet to a side, went up in 1947.1

For decades afterward it did the ordinary work of a fire lookout: a person posted through the dry months, glassing the ridgelines toward Tyee Mountain, Stormy Mountain and the Waterville Plateau for the first sign of smoke.2 The Forest Service kept using it that way into the 1990s, after which regular staffing ended; rangers out of Ardenvoir are said to still climb up during periods of high fire danger.2,3 By the time the National Historic Lookout Register documented the tower in 2011, it read as plainly abandoned: broken shutters screwed back onto the frame, the old power line pulled out, no sign of recent use, and a volunteer's note calling for a coat of paint.3 The register formally listed Steliko on January 3, 2015, nominated by Bob and Susan Adler.3

Rather than let it fall further, the Forest Service eventually opened Steliko to overnight rental through Recreation.gov. Guests who make the 1.5-mile climb up Forest Road 5310 — snow-free from about mid-April to mid-November, otherwise reached on foot, skis or snowshoes — now sleep in the same small cabin, on foam mattresses over a two-burner propane stove, under the same wide view the lookouts once watched for fire.2 The cabin has had some work done on it lately but is still meant to be rustic, so guests bring their own supplies; a simple outhouse with a vault toilet stands forty yards away.2 It remains federal property, open to the public by reservation rather than by right of trespass, and visitors are asked to come prepared for rough weather and no guaranteed heat.2

  1. Steliko Point Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra), https://www.firelookout.com/wa/steliko.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Steliko Lookout campground listing, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/10132083 (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Steliko Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/steliko-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

2009
2009 (2009)Photo: Gary Weber, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Steliko Point in 1998
Steliko Point in 1998 (1998)Photo: Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Steliko 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.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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: 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. Recreation Information Database (recreation.gov) Gave us: ownership, access, rental details, links Data source: ridb.recreation.gov · Public data from the US government · retrieved 19 Oct 2026
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association: lookout rentals Gave us: rental details, links Forest Fire Lookout Association rentals list (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only (state, name, booking link, manager, closure note), no prose copied. The FFLA says it is not involved in managing any rental program. · retrieved 19 Oct 2026
  5. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: design, dates, 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
  6. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  7. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: what it is built of, register numbers, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  8. 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
  9. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: height, photos, links 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
  10. 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
  11. 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

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