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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Thrapp Mountain Lookout Site

Okanogan County, WA 40-foot L-4 lookout built 1933, gone by 1958; a 2021 visit reported four concrete footings left after the 2014 Carlton Complex fire.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1958 per the sources (FFLOS says removed; Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say destroyed). A visit reported in April 2021 found four concrete footings.

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
Mostly easy walk on the forest road; the last 100 feet or so to the summit need some bushwhacking through deadfall and brush

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1933
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
4,266 ft (1,300 m)
Agency
Washington State Schools (per FFLOS)
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.30789, −119.89145
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-thrapp-mountain

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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 4.4 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. 1932 First staffedTed Healam listed as lookout in 1932, a year before the tower was built (WillhiteWeb; the 2021 visit cites a Methow Grist mention)Sources: willhiteweb.com, trailchick.com
  2. 1933 Built40-foot pole tower with L-4 cab built on the summitSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1934 EventPanorama photographs taken from the siteSource: willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1934 and 1958
  5. 1958 DestroyedTower destroyed in 1958 per Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb; FFLOS says removed in 1958Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1958 and 2010
  7. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 17, 2010; nominated by Irene PotterSource: firetower.org
  8. 2014 FireCarlton Complex Fire burned the forest from Finley Canyon to Thrapp; the 2021 visit says lookout artifacts remained on the summit until the 2014 firesSource: trailchick.com
  9. 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.

Thrapp Mountain, in Okanogan County, carried a 40-foot tower with an L-4 cab on its summit.1,2 The tower went up in 1933, and the sources date its end to 1958.1,3

The earliest name is Ted Healam, listed as the lookout in 1932, a year before the tower was built.3,4 WillhiteWeb also records panorama photographs taken from the site in 1934.3

The sources disagree on how the tower ended. FFLOS says it was removed in 1958, while Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say it was destroyed that year.1,2,3 Firelookout.com adds that the ruins on the summit later burned in a forest fire in the 2010s.2

A blog post dated April 25, 2021 describes a visit at which only four concrete footings were left, two of them covered by fallen timber.4 The author says lookout artifacts stayed on the summit until fires in 2014, and that the 2014 Carlton Complex Fire burned the forest from Finley Canyon to Thrapp.4 The sources do not agree on what survived.

Today the route described runs on NF-41 and Forest Road 250. The author drove about 6.5 miles up NF-41 from near the Loup to the Forest Road 250 junction, then walked about two miles east and south, with a short bushwhack near the top.4 WillhiteWeb says Forest Road 41 is paved for about 20 miles.3 We found no source saying whether the land is open to visitors. FFLOS lists the administrator as Washington State Schools.1

  1. Thrapp Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/thrapp-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Thrapp Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/thrapp.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Thrapp Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/thrapp_mountain_lookout/twisp_081.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Thrapp Mountain Lookout Site, Fire Lookout Journal (trailchick.com), https://www.trailchick.com/thrapp-mountain-lookout-site (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Thrapp Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2000
2000 (2000)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2000
2000 (2000)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, 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: height, ownership, 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, height, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.