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Fire lookout · Lewis County, Washington

Tumac Mountain Lookout Site

Also known as Tumac

Gifford Pinchot NF cinder-cone lookout: a 1930 camp and a 1937 L-4 cab, removed by 1968; trail 44 reaches the summit, where footings remained in 2015 photos.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed by 1968; lookout footings and an eyebolt were still on the summit in WillhiteWeb's 2015 photos.

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. Hikers reach the summit on trail 44 from a trailhead with a small Forest Service campground; the road in is rough gravel.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Trail 44 from Twin Lakes: about 1.5 miles to the smaller lake, then 2.25 miles to the summit. No tower remains to climb.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1937
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,340 ft (1,932 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lewis County, Washington
Coordinates
46.71223, −121.35304
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-tumac-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 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 EventCamp established on the summitSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1937 BuiltL-4 cab built on the summit. Forest Lookouts, citing Ray Kresek, dates it to 1938Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1950 StaffedBob Baldwin handled lookout duties that fire seasonSources: firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1961 StaffedJoe Mills, a Centralia College student, manned the lookout that summer, per an October 1961 Daily Chronicle itemSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1968 RemovedRemoved by 1968; the sources give no exact dateSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1968 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered June 20, 2012 (US 1303, WA 203), nominated by Ray KresekSource: 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.

Tumac Mountain is a cinder cone on a high plateau between White Pass and Bumping Lake, in Lewis County.1,2 A camp was set up on the summit in 1930.1,3,2,4 An L-4 cab went up in 1937.1,3,2 Forest Lookouts, citing Ray Kresek, gives 1938 for the cab instead.4

The register, FireLookout.com and WillhiteWeb all say the cab was removed by 1968, though none gives an exact date.1,3,2

Bob Baldwin staffed the lookout during the 1950 fire season.3,4 In 1961 a Centralia College student named Joe Mills manned the lookout for the summer, according to a Daily Chronicle item from October 1961 that WillhiteWeb and Forest Lookouts both quote.2,4 The item says the lookout received 179 visitors between July 15 and September 15.2,4

WillhiteWeb says the summit can be reached on foot. It describes a rough gravel access road and a route of about 3.75 miles.2 The route follows trail 44: 1.5 miles to the smaller Twin Lakes, then 2.25 miles to the summit.2 A small Forest Service campground sits at the trailhead.2 Severe washouts closed the Deep Creek Road from 2006 to 2013, according to WillhiteWeb.2

WillhiteWeb calls the lookout the mountain's most notable feature, and its 2015 photo captions show lookout footings and an eyebolt on the summit.2

  1. Tumac Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/tumac-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Tumac Mountain & Fire Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/tumac_mountain/trail_362.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Tumac Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/tumac.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Tumac - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/tumac.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Tumac Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1937
1937 (1937)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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: what it is built of, design, 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.