Abandoned Camp and Crows nest
As a fan of history, photography, and the great outdoors, it was only a matter of time before I fell head over heels for fire lookouts. From the moment I set foot in my first one, I was hooked—not just on the towers themselves, but on the stories of the men and women who built, maintained, and lived in them.
These days, most weekends are spent chasing those stories: hiking, backpacking, or bouncing down some forgotten forest road. If there’s a lookout involved, I’m in.
Abandoned Camp and Crows nest
Summer is almost here, and that means it’s lookout season. It’s time to put the books away, retreat from the maps and planning, put actual boots on the ground, and go do LOOKOUT STUFF, as we like to say. Of course, Mother Nature had other plans and decided Saturday would be a good day for thunderstorms, hail, and rain. While we like to pretend we are...
Cat and I were honored last year when our favorite museum and North Idaho icon, the Spragpole, asked us to create a Fire Lookout exhibit for the museum. We were double-honored (I am, but I’m not sure if that’s a real thing) when they asked us to give a presentation on fire lookouts. On Sunday, May 19th, 2024, we shared some information about Fire Lookouts...
ARRGGGHHHH MATEY Okay, I know this website and lookouts in general have nothing at all to do with pirates, BUT I am going to talk about Scurvy Mountain. And in my brain, the second I hear the word “scurvy,” I think of pirates and great wooden sailing ships crossing the oceans in search of riches and spices. So before I tell you about our Scurvy Mountain trip...
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.