Grayback Mountain Lookout Site

Grayback Mountain is a unique mountain that feels more like central California than Washington State. Open spaces and oak trees are abundant. Grayback had an L-4 cab built in 1945. Grayback shows up the year prior in 1944 on a DNR list of lookouts but no structure is listed. It is likely the process was in motion to build the L-4. In 1972, a 2-story DNR cab was built lasting until it was removed in 1996. A semi flatish area is located on the summit and was a landing strip for air patrol pilot Bob Edling in the mid-1950s.

For a period of the 1953 fire season, the lookout was Dewey Hapgood who reported that just watching for smoke is a very lonely job. The lookout during the summers of 1954, 1955, 1956 was Miss Juanita Ward, a sophomore at Whitworth College in Spokane. The lookout during the summer of 1958 was Jo Ann McLeod, who had just graduated from Lyle high school, she reported liking the work and is too busy to get lonesome. The lookout during the summer of 1960 was Diana Andrew of Glenwood. She was a pre-nursing student at Walla Walla College.

From the Goldendale Sentinel on September 14, 1950: "Buck Yeley, lookout for the State Forestry Service at Greyback Mountain and Joe Thorp, lookout on top of the Simcoe Butte, just had to exercise their cherished American right of voting in the Tuesday election. Naturally the men couldn't leave their stations...as the forests are cinder dry...so Dick Sellers, State Fire Warden came to Goldendale to see what could be done about it. According to law a notary must witness their ballot casting, so County Clerk John A. Miller, accompanied Sellers to the two lookout stations, a distance of over 100 miles for the round trip. It would be a better world if we had more citizens like Yeley and Thorp who are appreciative of the right to help nominate and elect those to run our state, federal and county governments."