FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Skamania County, Washington

Summit Prairie Lookout Site

Gifford Pinchot site of a 1924 log cabin and a 1933 L-4 cab on the summit; staffed until 1963, both structures destroyed in 1967; footings photographed in 2019.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Both structures destroyed in 1967; a 2019 photo caption records footings at the site

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. Described as a hike from the trailhead at the end of paved FR 9085; no closure mentioned in the sources read

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About 1.5 miles and 700 feet of climbing from the FR 9085 trailhead, per Willhite

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabLog and shake Dark Cabin with roof platform (1924), half a mile northwest of the summit, plus an L-4 cab on the summit (1933)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1924
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,230 ft (1,594 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Skamania County, Washington
Coordinates
46.25677, −121.72734
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-summit-prairie

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. 1924 BuiltLog and shake cabin with roof platform, half a mile northwest of the summit; also called Dark CabinSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1933 BuiltL-4 cab added atop the summitSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1937 StaffedA 1937 newspaper item says Amber Niblock had charge of a lookout station at Summit PrairieSource: willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1937 and 1954
  5. 1954 StaffedWillhite lists lookouts Forrest Couch and Philip L. Lee for 1954; pairs listed again for 1955 and 1956Source: willhiteweb.com
  6. 1963 Last staffedStaffed until 1963; a 1963 newspaper item reports a volunteer offered to serve as lookoutSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  7. 1967 DestroyedTrail crews used the site until both structures were destroyed in 1967; no cause given in the sources readSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. No record between 1967 and 2012
  9. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered July 18, 2012 as FFLOS US 1348Source: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Summit Prairie is a former lookout site in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, in Skamania County, Washington.1 The Register gives its elevation as 5,230 feet (1,594 meters).1,2

The first structure was a log and shake cabin with a roof platform, built in 1924 about half a mile northwest of the summit. Some called it the Dark Cabin.1,3 In 1933 an L-4 cab was added on the summit itself.1,3 Willhite says the lookout took its name from a small prairie on the ridgetop, which most maps label Summit Prairie, rather than from Quartz Creek Ridge.3

A 1937 newspaper item, quoted on Willhite's page, says Amber Niblock had charge of a lookout station there.3 The page lists pairs of lookouts for 1954 through 1956.3 A 1963 item says a volunteer offered to serve as lookout at Summit Prairie.3 The site was staffed until 1963. After that, trail crews used it, and both structures were destroyed in 1967.1,2

None of the sources we read gives a cause for the 1967 loss.

A photo caption on Willhite's page reads "Footings in 2019" and adds that one of them has been moved for ease of motorcycle passing.3 No other remains are described in the sources we read.

Willhite describes the route as 1.5 miles and about 700 feet of climbing, starting from the trailhead just before the end of paved FR 9085.3 The sources we read mention no closure, but none gives current access rules.

  1. Summit Prairie Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/summit-prairie-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Summit Prairie Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/summitprairie.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Summit Prairie Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/summit_prairie_lookout/gifford_pinchot_255.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Summit Prairie 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, staffing, 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.