Tunk Mountain Fire Lookout Site

WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Fire Lookouts

Looking Southeast 1934

Looking Southwest 1934

Tunk Mountain has just over 2,000 feet of prominence making the Washington Prominence List at #140 of the 144. A fair road reaches to the summit of Tunk, which is also the home to a fire lookout. The first known lookout was a Forest Service lookout point with a 40 foot pole tower with L-4 cab, built in 1933. Remnants of it can be found below the current lookout near the parking area for cars. (61 feet from the summit benchmark as the USGS party in 1936 described). The old tower was torn down in 1966 by the DNR with the DNR funding a new tower to replace it. The current tower is a 40 foot timber tower with DNR live-in cab that was built in 1966, on the highest point. Although the state abandoned it, a private party purchased the tower in 2004 and has a special use permit to leave it on site. Volunteers maintain it and the tower is listed on the National Historic Lookout Register.

There are three ways I know. I drove in from the east on the Peterson Road then Chewiliken Road (FR 200). But driving out, I quickly reached county roads by continuing north then west on Chewilken Road (FR200 & FR 3015). Others have come in on Peony Creek Road (FR3010) from Highway 20. These latter two could probably be driven by most all vehicles. See map.