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Fire lookout · Lewis County, Washington

Tongue Mountain Lookout Site

Gifford Pinchot NF summit in Lewis County, WA; an L-5 cab and shed built in 1934, abandoned in 1947 and gone; the summit is a hike today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Abandoned in 1947 and reported gone in 1948. Willhite found very little evidence of the lookout on the summit, only a campsite and fire pit.

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. Gravel forest roads from Randle to a trailhead on FR 2904 at about 3,600 ft, then a hike; no closure appears in these sources

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Close to 2 miles from the trailhead, with 1,300 ft of gain. The last 100 ft is an exposed scramble that Willhite says suits experienced hikers.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-5 cab on the summit with a 10x10 ft shed at the saddle (1934)The design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,811 ft (1,466 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lewis County, Washington
Coordinates
46.41276, −121.77071
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-tongue-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.8 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. 1918 FireWildfire caused massive destruction on the peak, per Willhite's older imagesSource: willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1918 and 1934
  3. 1934 BuiltL-5 cab placed on the summit; 10x10 ft shed built at the saddle between the peaksSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1934 EventPanorama photos taken on July 20, 1934Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1947 AbandonedLookout abandonedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. 1948 EventLookout reported to be gone (Willhite)Source: willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1948 and 2020
  8. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 8, 2020 as US 1982, WA 481Source: firetower.org
  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.

Tongue Mountain rises at the north end of Juniper Ridge, in Lewis County, Washington.1,2 It sits within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.2,3

A lookout went up on the summit in 1934: an L-5 cab, with a 10-by-10-foot shed built at the saddle between the two peaks.1 The register gives the same cab and shed, both put up on the site that year.2 Panorama photos were taken there on July 20, 1934.3 Willhite notes that a wildfire had caused massive destruction on the peak in 1918, and that the CCC cut many snags in the 1930s to keep lightning from striking them.1

The lookout was abandoned in 1947.2,4,1 Willhite says it was reported gone the following year, in 1948.1 The register and FireLookout.com both describe it as gone today.2,4

Little is left to see on the summit.1 The trail's final 100 feet has crumbled away, and a campsite and fire pit sit on top.1 He had not come across a photograph of the lookout itself.1

Willhite's directions start at Randle and follow a string of forest roads to a trailhead on FR 2904, at about 3,600 feet.1 From there the hike is close to 2 miles with 1,300 feet of climbing.1 Willhite considers the final 100-foot scramble suitable for experienced hikers and warns that beginners may find the exposure frightening.1 The summit is popular for its views, with the Cispus River valley and three volcanoes standing out.1

  1. Tongue Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/tongue_mountain_lookout/lewis_county_376.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Tongue Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/tongue-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Tongue Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Rex's Fire Lookout Page), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/tongue-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Tongue Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/tonguemtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Tongue Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-20-1934 (N)
Tongue Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-20-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tongue Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-20-1934 (SE)
Tongue Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-20-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tongue Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-20-1934 (SW)
Tongue Mountain Lookout panoramic 7-20-1934 (SW) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tongue Mountain Lookout site - view southeast
Tongue Mountain Lookout site - view southeastPhoto: Eric Willhite, via 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.