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Fire lookout · Carbon County, Wyoming

Kennaday Peak Lookout

Present 1964 R-6 flattop cab on a 10-foot concrete base, after a CCC-era cab; now an $80/night overnight rental in mid-July to mid-September.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Overnight rental, $80 a night, four-person maximum; open mid-July to mid-September. Gravel access; 4WD may be needed per the Forest Service.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Gravel road: about 6 miles of Brush Creek Road, then 6.5 miles on Forest Road 215 to the summit (Carbon County guide).
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6 flattop cab, 15 by 15 feet, with catwalk, on a 10-foot concrete block base (present tower, 1964); the earlier 1930s cab was an L-4The designs: L-4, R-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1964
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
10,788 ft (3,288 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests
Land
Federal land
Location
Carbon County, Wyoming
Coordinates
41.45205, −106.51768
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wy-kennaday-peak

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1964 BuiltPresent 15 by 15 foot R-6 flattop cab with catwalk, on a 10-foot concrete block baseSources: nhlr.org, fs.usda.gov, wyomingcarboncounty.com
  2. 1969 BuiltSource: firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page
  3. 1969 StaffedWilma Perue listed as known lookout personnel, 1969 to 1971Source: firelookout.com
  4. No record between 1969 and 1997
  5. 1997 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, September 1, 1997; nominated by the Medicine Bow-Routt forest supervisorSource: nhlr.org
  6. 2011 Condition assessmentChapter and district staff visited in early summer to assess the repairs needed before it can become a rental.Source: firelookout.org
  7. 2013 Condition assessmentHistoriCorps performed a condition assessment of the lookout at the Forest Service request.Source: firelookout.org
  8. 2013 EventForest Service received grant money for the repairs needed; the work itself was postponed to 2014.Source: firelookout.org
  9. 2014 RestoredHistoriCorps, the Medicine Bow Ranger District and FFLA began restoration; more work needed before it can join the rental program.Source: firelookout.org
  10. 2016 RestoredHistoriCorps repair work in summer 2016 (work begun 2014); new lightning protection system installed, one more work day needed.Source: firelookout.org
  11. 2017 RestoredHistoriCorps again carried out considerable repair work in summer 2017, aiming to make it ready for public rental.Source: firelookout.org
  12. 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.

Kennaday Peak Lookout sits on Kennaday Peak, east of Saratoga in Carbon County, Wyoming, inside the Medicine Bow National Forest.1,2,3 The Civilian Conservation Corps raised the peak's first structure in the 1930s, and it was one of six built in that area.1,4 That first cab, an L-4, was later replaced.2 The current tower, a flat-top R-6 cab measuring 15 feet square with a catwalk, dates to 1964 and stands on a 10-foot concrete block base.1,2,4,3

The register listed the lookout on September 1, 1997, on the nomination of the Medicine Bow-Routt forest supervisor.1 Firelookout.com names Wilma Perue as a lookout staffer from 1969 to 1971.2

The tower still stands, and it is now an overnight rental.4,3 The Forest Service lists the season as mid-July to mid-September, at $80 a night, with room for four in two bunk beds.4 Guests get a propane heater, solar lights and a propane cookstove.4 Indoor plumbing is absent.4 A vault toilet stands outside, and visitors must supply their own water.4

The drive is gravel.3 The Carbon County guide describes about six miles on Brush Creek Road from Wyoming Highway 130, then a left turn onto Forest Road 215 for another 6.5 miles to the summit.3 The county guide recommends high clearance and says four-wheel drive is not needed, while the Forest Service says a 4WD may be needed.4,3

  1. Kennaday Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wy/kennaday-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Kennaday Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wy/kennadaypeak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Kennaday Peak Fire Lookout, wyomingcarboncounty.com, https://www.wyomingcarboncounty.com/blog/159-kennaday-peak-fire-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Kennaday Peak Lookout, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/mbrtb/recreation/kennaday-peak-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Kennaday Peak Lookout
Photo: U.S. Forest Service, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Kennaday Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Kennaday Peak in 1941
Kennaday Peak in 1941 (1941)Photo: the National Archives and Records Administration and the U.S. Forest Service, via firelookout.com · source
Kennaday Peak L.O.
Kennaday Peak L.OPhoto: the National Archives and Records Administration and the U.S. Forest Service, via firelookout.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: what it is built of, design, height, dates, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. 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.