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Fire lookout · Lewis County, Washington

Vanson Peak Lookout Site

Lewis County, WA summit site: L-4 cab dated 1930, Aircraft Warning Service post 1942-44, cab removed or destroyed in the 1960s; reached by trail, no lookout standing.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed or destroyed in the 1960s; no source describes a standing structure, only a photo captioned as a lookout front step

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. On Monument land reached by trail; the easiest approach starts on Weyerhaeuser land and needs a Longview-St Helens access permit or key (Willhite)

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Day hike from the Goat Mountain trail per WTA; Willhite gives 2 miles from the permit area and 6.5 miles from the Goat Creek trailhead

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
1930
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,948 ft (1,508 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lewis County, Washington
Coordinates
46.41013, −122.15155
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-vanson-peak

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. 1929 EventPhotos taken when the site was a camp, before the cab (Willhite)Source: willhiteweb.com
  2. 1930 BuiltL-4 cab. Register and firelookout.com give 1930; Willhite says likely 1930Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1942 First staffedAircraft Warning Service spotting post; Seattle Filter Center activated it March 19, 1942Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1944 Last staffedAircraft Warning Service post deactivated April 1, 1944Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1944 and 1960
  6. 1960 DestroyedYear is a placeholder for the decade: sources say only sometime in the 1960s. Register says removed rather than destroyedSources: willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com, firetower.org
  7. 1964 ClosedMay 1964 newspaper item (dated May 5, 1964) says it will be closed that summer except for possible emergency use; the sources do not confirm the closure happenedSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1964 and 2012
  9. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered July 18, 2012 as FFLOS US 1350, WA 250Source: 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.

Vanson Peak sits near the north edge of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, in Lewis County, Washington.1,2 The summit held an L-4 cab, which the Former Fire Lookout Sites register dates to 1930.3 Firelookout.com gives the same year.4 Eric Willhite, whose trip report covers the site, says the cab was likely built that year.1,2 His page also has photos from 1929, taken when the site was a camp.2

From 1942 to 1944 the Aircraft Warning Service used the summit for spotting.2 The Seattle Filter Center activated that post on March 19, 1942, and deactivated it on April 1, 1944.1

In May 1964 a newspaper item, quoted by Forest Lookouts, said the Vanson Peak lookout and two others in the Spirit Lake ranger district would be closed that summer, except for possible emergency use.1

Accounts of the end differ. The register says the cab was removed in the 1960s, while firelookout.com and Willhite say it was destroyed sometime in that decade.2,3,4

Today the summit is a small rock outcrop and clearing that looks out over Mount Rainier, Mount Adams and Riffe Lake.5 The Washington Trails Association describes it as a day hike from the Goat Mountain trail, inside the Monument.5 The easiest approach starts on Weyerhaeuser land and needs an access permit or key, according to Willhite.2 Willhite also reports that the blast zone stopped just short of the site.2

Willhite's photos include one captioned "The front step to the lookout building." No source we read says more about what stands there now.2

  1. Vanson Peak - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/vanson-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Vanson Peak Lookout Site - Vanson Lake, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/vanson_peak_lookout/goat_ridge_trail_245.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Vanson Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/vanson-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Vanson Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/vansonpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Vanson Peak via Goat Mountain, Washington Trails Association, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/vanson-peak (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Vanson Peak Lookout 1936
Vanson Peak Lookout 1936 (1936)Photo: Rex Kamstra collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Vanson Peak Lookout panoramic 1929 (N)
Vanson Peak Lookout panoramic 1929 (N) (1929)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Vanson Peak Lookout panoramic 1929 (SE)
Vanson Peak Lookout panoramic 1929 (SE) (1929)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Vanson Peak Lookout panoramic 1929 (SW)
Vanson Peak Lookout panoramic 1929 (SW) (1929)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, 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.