| Drive-Up | Emergency Status |
| Elevation: 5607′ | St Joe National Forest |
HISTORY
1932 – 20″ Pole tower built
1934 – Staffed by Dan Zobec
1958 – 40″ R-6 Flat cab built
1970s – Set to emergency status, the current site holds electronics and solar panels.
Known Staff
1934 – Dan Zobel (*Hardship and Happy Times by Burt Russell)
1964 – Howard Ivan Stearns
1967 – Phil Sailer (*Kellogg Evening News)
1972 & 73 – Don and Nancy Sule Hammond
OUR NOTES
We’d long been told that the gate to Dunn Peak was always locked, and we were looking at a few miles to hike in. So we had saved this one for a rainy day – that actually turned out be a literal rainy day!
We were pretty surprised to not only find the gate open but what appeared to be several fire rings in the parking area – leading us to believe the gate isn’t locked as often as we were told.
The tower itself looks a bit rough, which is understandable since it hasn’t been staffed since the 1970s. The bottom set of stairs has been removed (because of you know, people!), but really, for the most part, it looks to be in good shape. Would be interesting to see what the interior looks like and how the roof is holding up.
There is a book out by a couple that staffed the lookout in 1972-73 called “THE LAST LOOKOUT ON DUNN PEAK. Fire spotting in Idaho’s St Joe National Forest” by Nancy Sule Hammond. We haven’t read it yet, but it’s on tap to be one of our LOOKOUT BOOK CLUB selections this year.
Hope you’ll enjoy my book! It was selected by the Western Writers of America as a finalist for their 2024 Spur Award in the contemporary western nonfiction category.
Hello Nancy – we met at the FFLA conference last year. We’re planning to read your book as part of the LOOKOUT BOOK CLUB this year – would love to connect with you about that and maybe schedule an online meeting for the readers with you!
After 3 years in the Army I on Dunn Peak lookout for the 1964 fire season. It was a slow year for fires. I graduated from Washington State U. with a degree in Forest Management. Retired from the USFS in 1994.
Thank you for the information, we will add it to our database.
Was your USFS career spent in Idaho?
No! As a forester I worked on the Red Ives, Potlatch, Fernan Districts, then went to Region 5 and worked on the Mad River District, Six Rivers NF and then the Modoc National Forest S.O. as the sale prep and admin specialist.