Destroyed in 1976
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.
Destroyed in 1976
Site with a lot of history
1931: Crow's Nest
History
1936: Pole platform and tent
1940: 40' L-4 Tower
1950's: Removed
As lookout exploration season winds down, we refuse to let a little weather end the fun. Sure, Jack Frost is starting to show up, but we're stubborn enough to keep exploring until nature forces us to call it quits.
Eighty Peak is home to an electronics site with very few remnants of the past.
Out in the Coeur d'Alene National forest in fall of 2024 to knock out as many lookouts as we could.
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...