It may surprise you that two dozen or more of our remaining historical lookouts here in Washington State are still actively staffed or on standby status, which is about a quarter of our lookouts. Some are managed by the Forest Service, the National Park Service, volunteer groups, and numerous Reservations like the Yakima and Colville. The number of lookouts being staffed can change annually but I’ve listed the ones I know of on this page along with the managing agency. This is likely not a completely accurate list, so if you have updates or changes, do let me know!
I’m incredibly blessed to be in my second season of staffing beautiful Goat Peak in Mazama, WA near my home in the Methow Valley. One of my favorite parts of staffing a fire lookout is meeting fantastic visitors! But now as a fire lookout I understand that with the growing popularity of visiting these structures, many staffed fire lookouts can have very busy days with few breaks and not all staffed lookouts allow visitors. I wrote a recent article about etiquette when visiting a staffed fire lookout, so please give it a read!
Enjoy your fire lookout visits this year and hopefully you get a chance to meet active lookouts who will share great stories and history. Happy lookout(ing)!
Copper Mountain – North Cascades National ParkGoat Peak – US Forest Service, Methow Valley RDGranite Mountain – Snoqualmie Fire Lookouts AssociationIndian Mountain – US Forest Service, Priest Lake RDKelly Butte – Snoqualmie Fire Lookouts AssociationMiners Ridge – US Forest Service, Darrington RDMount Fremont – Mount Rainier National Park/VolunteersOmak Mountain – Colville ReservationRed Top (previous staffed but not presently) – VolunteersShriner Peak – Mount Rainier National ParkSugarloaf – US Forest Service, Entiat RDTable Rock – US Forest Service, Pomeroy RDTunk Mountain (used as a standby in 2021) – PrivateWhitestone Ridge – Colville Reservation
Desolation Peak – North Cascades National ParkGold Mountain – Colville ReservationGreen Mountain – Friends of Green MountainKeller Butte – Colville ReservationLookout Mountain, Twisp (on standby) – US Forest Service, Methow Valley RDMount Bonaparte – US Forest Service, Tonasket RDMount Leecher – US Forest Service, Methow Valley RDOregon Butte – US Forest Service, Pomeroy RDSatus Peak – Yakima ReservationSourdough Mountain – North Cascades National ParkSun Top – Snoqualmie Fire Lookouts AssociationTower Mountain – Spokane ReservationWellpinit Mountain – Spokane ReservationWhitmore Mountain – Colville Reservation
