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Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Timber Mountain Lookout

1959 41-foot Forest Service timber tower with R-6 cab in Pend Oreille County; staffed until 1981, restored by volunteers since 1995, reached by a gated road walk today.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. The access road gate is locked all year, so visitors walk in. The cab is locked. The catwalk was open on a 2018 visit, which is not a standing permission.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Walk of about 2.1 miles from the locked gate (Will Hite). TrailChick lists a 4.5-mile round trip with 1,100 feet of gain.
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 2018)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower41-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flattop live-in cab and catwalkThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1932
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
5,449 ft (1,661 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.52702, −117.45252
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-timber-mountain

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 3.6 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 BuiltFirst lookout: 50-foot pole tower with L-4 cabSources: firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com, trailchick.com
  2. No record between 1932 and 1959
  3. 1959 BuiltCurrent structureSource: TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts
  4. 1959 Replaced by a new structureExisting 41-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flattop cab replaces the first towerSources: nhlr.org, willhiteweb.com, trailchick.com
  5. No record between 1959 and 1981
  6. 1981 AbandonedAfter staffing ended the tower was abandoned and fell into poor shapeSource: trailchick.com
  7. 1981 Last staffedStaffed until 1981Sources: nhlr.org, willhiteweb.com, trailchick.com
  8. 1995 RestoredPend Oreille Anthropological Society and the Forest Service began restoration as a Passport in Time projectSources: nhlr.org, willhiteweb.com
  9. 1996 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 10, 1996 as US 150, WA 19Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2005 RestoredSubstantial restoration work done, mostly by volunteers.Source: firelookout.org
  11. 2007 RestoredLightning protection and reroofing done in preparation for the rental program (Will Hite)Source: willhiteweb.com
  12. 2009 RestoredNew lightning protection installed and nearly all repairs done to prepare for the Cabin Rental Program; entry delayed again by staff turnover.Sources: firelookout.org, firelookout.org
  13. 2017 RestoredPassport in Time crew and FFLA volunteers cleaned and painted, replaced the plywood subfloor and repaired footingsSources: willhiteweb.com, trailchick.com, firelookout.org
  14. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Timber Mountain sits in the Colville National Forest in Pend Oreille County, Washington, about 15 miles south of Ione.1,2

The first lookout here was a 50-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, developed about 1932.2,3,4 The present 41-foot treated timber tower, with an R-6 flattop live-in cab and catwalk, replaced it in 1959.1,3,4 Firelookout.com lists known lookout staff by name, from Roger Sherman in 1951 and 1952 to Dorothy Brennan in 1971.2 The Register and TrailChick say the tower was staffed until 1981. After that it was abandoned and fell into poor shape.1,4

Restoration began in 1995, when the Pend Oreille Anthropological Society and the Forest Service started work as a Passport in Time project.1,3 Will Hite says lightning protection and a new roof went on in the summer of 2007, in preparation for a rental program.3 The Eastern Washington chapter's 2017 report describes a one-week Passport in Time session that replaced the plywood subfloor and painted the interior and exterior, with Forest Fire Lookout Association members volunteering.5 Will Hite gives five days of 2017 work, which included replacing the subfloor and painting the cab.3 Will Hite notes that stolen copper lightning protection still needed replacing.3

Sources say the tower was used off and on for brief periods in fire season. Will Hite adds that it has also served as a vantage point after thunderstorms.3 The Register's September 2018 visit reports call the tower in good condition and say it needs no paint.1

Today the access road is gated.3,4 Will Hite says the gate stays locked all year, so the walk in is about 2.1 miles.3 TrailChick lists a 4.5-mile round trip with 1,100 feet of gain.4 The cab is locked.4 TrailChick says the catwalk was open on its 2018 visit, but that is not a standing permission, so check with the Colville National Forest before going up.4 The 2017 chapter report described plans to return the lookout to volunteer service and into the rental program.5 We found no current listing that shows it can be rented.

  1. Timber Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/timber-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Timber Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Fire Lookout (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/wa/timber.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Timber Mountain Lookout, Will Hite (willhiteweb.com), http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/timber_mountain/tower_080.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Timber Mountain, TrailChick (trailchick.com), https://www.trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/timber-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Eastern Washington 2017 Chapter Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, Eastern Washington Chapter, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-e-wa-2017.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

September 2018 photo
September 2018 photo (2018)Photo: Jarred Roberg, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Timber Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Timber Mountain Lookout
Photo: Nicholas Muto, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Timber Mtn. in 1950
Timber Mtn. in 1950 (1950)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Timber Mtn. in 1999
Timber Mtn. in 1999 (1999)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Timber Mountain 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, ownership, 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. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: 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
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: design, height, dates, 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
  7. 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
  8. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.