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Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Vie Mountain Lookout Site

Chelan County, WA summit site: L-5 cab built 1935 and burned in 1953 (register says removed); remains reported in place; reached by a long hike, no closure described.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Burned in 1953 per Willhite, Forest Lookouts and firelookout.com; the register says removed. Willhite reports the stove pipe, roof cap and hardware still at the site

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 Wenatchee National Forest land; reached by a long, scary dirt approach road and a hike of 7.5 miles or more each way (Willhite). No closure or permit is described in the sources read

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Drive the dirt approach to a trailhead, then hike 7.5 miles or more each way; the old trail is faint for its last quarter mile (Willhite)

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-5 cabThe design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,295 ft (2,224 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.13997, −120.42639 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-vie-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 4.5 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. 1934 EventPanorama photos taken October 3, 1934, four feet above ground; Willhite reads them as showing a campSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1935 BuiltL-5 cab; register, firelookout.com and Willhite all give 1935Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. No record between 1935 and 1953
  4. 1953 BurnedBurned by the Forest Service (Willhite, Forest Lookouts); firelookout.com says destroyed; the register says removedSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1953 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 9, 2012 as FFLOS US 1429, WA 329Source: firetower.org
  7. 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.

Vie Mountain rises to about 7,360 feet in Chelan County, on the Wenatchee National Forest.1,2 Panorama photos taken on October 3, 1934 came before the cabin, and Willhite reads them as showing a camp.2,3 The L-5 cab was built in 1935.1,4,2

The Forest Service burned the lookout in 1953, according to Willhite and Forest Lookouts.2,3 The register lists the cab as removed that year, not burned.1 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed.4 Willhite reports that the stove pipe, roof cap and hardware remain at the site and have not moved since the fire.2

The site is on Forest Service land.1 Willhite describes a long, scary dirt approach road, then a hike of 7.5 miles or more each way.2 Some trees have grown over the site's views, though a short walk to the high point still offers plenty of them.2 Willhite also reports that fires destroyed the trails, which have since all but disappeared.2

The Register recorded the site as US 1429, WA 329 on November 9, 2012.1

  1. Vie Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/vie-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Vie Lookout Site - Lake Chelan, WillhiteWeb.com, https://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/vie_mountain/history_071.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Vie Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/vie-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Vie Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://firelookout.com/wa/viemtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Vie Mountain Lookout Site
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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 780 m.

    • FFLA: 48.13997, −120.42639
    • FFLOS: 48.14177, −120.43659

    They share a register number.

    The map uses the position from FFLA.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, 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: location, 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.