I have been interested in the history of lookouts for quite some time. A few years ago during a photography workshop (incidentally where I met Cat), I visited my first lookout in person. I have been hooked ever since and plan many of my photography trips, hiking, backpacking and camping trips, and weekend drives around finding and experiencing new lookouts.
Drive-UpAbandonedElevation: 7649′Salmon National Forest History 1924: Unimproved lookout site 1928: 60′ steel tower installed 1965: Last season, regularly staffed 1968: Abandoned Our Notes Ulysses Mountain consisted of log cabin living quarters and a 60-foot Aeromotor steel tower. The most recent pictures I could find before my visit were from 2012, and...
In the fall of 2021, the Idaho Fire Lookouts team hiked to Diablo Mountain to meet and interview lookout Nate Raff. Nate has been kind enough to share a ton of information and knowledge about lookouts, stories about his time on a Helitac crew, and as a volunteer manning and rebuilding lookouts.
A weekend at Arid Peak where we spot our first smoke!
We did not found a single remnant of this tower.
Accidentally burnt down and not rebuilt.
Removed cabin and Aeromotor Tower.
Destroyed by wildfire in 1967
Destroyed 1950's.
Destroyed in the 60's.
Our search for a crow's nest that sat abandoned for 80 years!