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Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Stiletto Ridge Lookout Site

Stiletto Ridge's gabled L-4 cab, dated 1931, was believed burned in 1952; only a fire finder post, rock steps and a wind break remain in North Cascades National Park.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab gone; dated 1931 to 1952 by FireLookout.com and believed burned in 1952 per Will Hite; only the fire finder post, rock steps and a rock wall wind break remain

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 by a hike from the Bridge Creek Trailhead on Highway 20; the site is inside North Cascades National Park; Will Hite says it is easily accessible from the highway

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Hike from the Bridge Creek Trailhead at 4,540 feet on Highway 20 to the site; the Stiletto Peak Trail climbs to the lookout site

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabgabled L-4 cab, no towerThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,223 ft (2,202 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.48427, −120.67837
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-stiletto-ridge

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 4.2 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. 1930 StaffedForest guard Kenneth Carmody sent to the station for the summer; Will Hite thinks there was probably only a camp and firefinder standSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1931 BuiltGabled L-4 cab dated to 1931 by the register and FireLookout.com; Will Hite says it was said to be built that yearSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1934 EventPanorama photos taken from the site; Forest Lookouts dates them to September 9, 1934, Will Hite says they were taken from the roofSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1934 and 1952
  5. 1952 BurnedRegister says a photo likely shows the cab being prepared for burning in 1952; Will Hite says it is believed to have been burned; Forest Lookouts lists it only as removedSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1952 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered with the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register on October 28, 2012Source: firetower.org
  8. 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 register and FireLookout.com both date the Stiletto Ridge cab to 1931. It was a gabled L-4 cab at the west end of a spur ridge.1,2 Will Hite's page says it was said to be built that year.3 The register places it in the Wenatchee National Forest and FireLookout.com agrees, but the Forest Lookouts page names the Chelan National Forest, and the sources do not reconcile the two.1,2,4

Before the cab, a forest guard named Kenneth Carmody was sent to the peak for the summer of 1930. A Wenatchee newspaper said he would be stationed there the entire summer, and Will Hite's page thinks the 1930 setup was probably only a camp and a firefinder stand.4,3

Panoramic photos were shot from the roof in 1934, and the Forest Lookouts page dates them to September 9, 1934.4,3

The cab appears to have ended in 1952.1 The register says a photo that likely shows it being prepared for burning dates from that year.1 FireLookout.com lists its dates as 1931 to 1952.2 Will Hite's page reports a belief that the cab was burned in 1952, while the Forest Lookouts page only lists it as removed.4,3

The register places the site today within North Cascades National Park.1 Will Hite's page reports that only a fire finder post, some rock steps and a rock wall windbreak are still standing.3 A photo on that page is captioned 2025.3

Will Hite describes the site as easy to reach from the highway.3 A Washington Trails Association listing describes a climb from the Bridge Creek Trailhead on Highway 20, at 4,540 feet, to vistas at the site.3,5

  1. Stiletto Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/stiletto-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Stiletto Ridge Fire Lookout Cabin, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/stilettoridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Stiletto Peak Lookout Site, Will Hite Web, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/stiletto_ridge_lookout/north_cascades_101.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Stiletto Ridge, Forest Lookouts (Washington), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/stiletto-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Stiletto Peak, Washington Trails Association, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/stiletto-peak (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Stiletto Ridge 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, 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.