Roman Nose Lookout Site

In 1917, there was a lookout camp.
In 1921, a phone line was established to Naples via Samuels and Pack River.
In 1923, a D-6 cupola cabin was built.
In 1930s, a 30 foot pole tower with an L-4 cab was built.

In 1947, the lookout was 20-year old Bill Mimnaugh of Spokane, just graduated from high school after an 18-month tour of duty in the navy. After packing Bills personal gear and fire fighting equipment to the lookout, they found that the weight of the winter ice had damaged the tower considerably. A second pack trip had to be made with repair supplies. 1947 was a high year for lightning fires. The Roman Nose lookout was the last to be placed on his tower, the 64th lookout to be manned. There were 62 additional lookouts incase of emergency.

In 1953, the lookouts were Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, both students at Brigham Young University in Provo. He was a sophomore majoring in meteorology.

In 1954, the lookout was Gary D. Millard of Dover. It was his first summer as a lookout. Only two lookouts (Roman Nose and Bald Eagle) were activated in the district, along with daily aircraft patrol. After the summer, Gary went home and took his old job at Shiloh guard service station.

In 1955, a 29 foot timber tower with an L-4 cab was built. In later years, the cab was modified to a flat roof.

In 1959, the lookout was Mr. Oren D. Etter of Naples. After closing for the season, someone broke into the lookout and took numerous items of forest service equipment.

In 1960, lookouts were Mr. and Mrs. Oren D. Etter of Naples. The building also housed an automatic radio repeater giving the radio communication system a much wider and more efficient coverage.

In 1967, the Sundance fire being whipped up by 60 mile an hour winds was headed for Roman Nose around 9 p.m. in the evening. The 18-year-old fire lookout Randy Langston was on the radio with dispatcher Gene Napier. Randy was told to get off the tower and head down the trail. Langston took his portable two-way radio and obeyed. But he was too late. Already the fire had swept across the trail and cut off his only escape. That is when he started to get scared the dispatcher said. Napier told him to get back to the tower. But that was gone too, so Napier sent Randy to some nearby rock cliffs where he found haven under a rocky ledge. From there he watched fire roar around him through the long night burning everything around him. Using the portable radio, Randy talked to Napier throughout the night getting reports on the fire and bolstering his courage until he could be rescued by helicopter the next day.

In 1976, three juvenile offenders vandalized the Roman Nose Lookout. Well over a year later, the three were apprehended by FBI and Forest Service Special Agents. The trio was remanded to the custody of the State Department of Health and Welfare and their families agreed to repay nearly $4,000 in damages caused during the incident.

In 1999, on October 31, the tower was blown over and destroyed in a wind storm.

The historic route comes up from the south up easy terrain. There is some kind of Jeep or ATV trail nearly to the summit up the south ridge. I put the approximate location on map below. But, the more common way this mountain is climbed today is from the Roman Nose Lakes, due to the nice roads and trails to the lakes. The climb is a bushwhack and then an easy scramble to the summit from the highest lake. The trail wraps around the lake eventually fading out. Bushwhack up the slope going right of the slab cliffs. About halfway up to the ridge, the brush becomes light. Once on the ridge, stay on it and climb easy off trail terrain to the summit. Many have also used the East Ridge from the Roman Nose campground.