Columbia Mountain

The Columbia Mountain Lookout was designed by C.C. Reed, an early Forest Service supervisor, and constructed by the US Forest Service on the Colville National Forest in 1914. The 12’x12’ log cabin is made of hand hewn timbers at one time it supported a 15′ overhead platform with another roof. The platform was removed during restoration in 2010.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built another lookout on Columbia Mountain in the 1930s, relegating the original lookout to a storage shed, then both lookouts were decommissioned in the 1970s.

In 2010, Forest Service archaeologist Stuart Chilvers partnered with volunteers and members of the Forest Fire Lookout Association to restore Columbia Mountain. The team worked from original photos and records, using traditional techniques. When the crew removed the lookout logs for restoration, they found magazines from the 1920s that were used as chinking, some containing articles on silent film stars. Names are also etched in some of the logs, including the name “Slagle”. In fact, two Slagle brothers served as lookouts at Columbia during World War II.

I had no idea when I visited Columbia Mountain in November 2018 that it would be not only my last fire lookout I’d visit with my long time adventure dog Jake, but also our last adventure together. A short time later he was diagnosed with cancer at age 13. Columbia Mountain was my 80th Washington State lookout and Jake was right by my side for nearly 60 of those lookouts.

In May 2019 I returned to Columbia Mountain to remember crazy Jake dog at the last fire lookout we visited. I remember at the time how strange it felt to hike to the summit without him, one of the few times in 13 years I didn’t have a dog in tow.

I won’t ever forget that November visit to Columbia Mountain with Jake. We managed to just barely sneak in the visit to the lookout before a snow storm, hiking down as the snow started to fall. I’ll always remember Jake dog, the craziest, best darn adventure partner I could have ever asked for.