Drive-Up | Emergency Status |
Elevation: 5607′ | St Joe National Forest |

HISTORY
1932 20″ Pole tower built
1958 40″ R-6 Flat cab built
1970s Set to emergency status, current site holds electronics and solar panels.
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 to 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 isnt locked as often as we were told.
The tower itself looks a bit rough, which is understandable since it hasnt been staffed since the 1970s. The bottom set of stairs have 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 havnt read it yet but its 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!