Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... There’s a small wooden cabin at the top of Northwest Peak, a few miles from Montana’s borders with Idaho and Canada, and Chuck Manning, 79, believes lookouts ...

PIKE NATIONAL FOREST — While historic fire lookouts dot the Colorado landscape, advancing technology has meant fewer of these structures are staffed than in the past; let's meet one of the state's ...

There’s a small wooden cabin at the top of Northwest Peak, a few miles from Montana’s borders with Idaho and Canada, and Chuck Manning, 79, believes lookouts like this one deserve a second chance at ...

Northwest Peak Lookout sits at the top of Northwest Peak in Lincoln County. (Hailey Smalley/ Daily Inter Lake) Volunteers make repairs to Northwest Peak Lookout on July 25, 2025. (Hailey Smalley/Daily ...

Nick Tolman was enjoying his second day at Bolan Mountain Lookout with his 3-year-old daughter, in September 2020, when he noticed a puff of smoke on the southern horizon. It wasn’t much to begin with ...

The writers Edward Abbey, Gary Snyder and Norman McLean all staffed high-elevation fire lookouts in the West — their experiences rich fuel for their work. But Jack Kerouac’s reaction makes me smile.

Rick Freimuth has occupied the Benchmark Lookout every summer since 2016. Rick Freimuth and his wife, Linda, have occupied the Benchmark Lookout every summer since 2016. Now retired, the couple can’t ...