Arid Peak Lookout

Hike-In	Rental Program
Elevation: 5306′	St. Joe National Forest

History

Arid Peak Lookout is a 1934 20′ L-4, originally built to watch for fires from the Milwaukee Railroad as it came down Loop Creek from the Montana line to the North Fork of the St. Joe River near Avery, Idaho. In 1969 the legs of the tower were replaced, but the lookout was not used again. In 1996 and 1997, the Idaho Chapter of the FFLA and the St. Joe Ranger District joined in a restoration project; all of the beams atop the legs and underneath the cab were replaced, as were the stairs which had collapsed in 1970.

The fully-restored lookout is now on the Recreation Rental program, as it sits overlooking a companion project, “The Route of the Hiawatha”, a rail-trail being developed over the trestles and through the tunnels of the abandoned Milwaukee line. The tower is on the National Historic Lookout Register.

OUR NOTES

Our most recent visit to Arid Peak turned out to be quite eventful. The first night we were witness to a spectacular Northern Lights show! We will NEVER get bored with watching Mother Nature put on that show (along with the Milky Way).

The second night of our stay there was a very large thunder and lighting storm that woke us up in the middle of the night and had all of us (and dogs) huddling up together on top of the grounded bunks.

We watched lighting striking the peaks all around us and start three fires. We located them to the best of our ability using the Osborne fire finder and our usgs maps – then were able to report them to the forest service the next day. It appeared as if only one smoke was still active but likely not a threat.