Darrington R.S. Lookout Site

Background (Reason For Page)

During 1932, the Darrington Ranger Station had a barn with a firewatching platform on its roof. In addition to general local firewatching, the site was used for training lookout workers.

The lookout platform was abandoned during the 1940s, and its rooftop platform was eventually re-roofed over, but the building is still intact and virtually unchanged from to how it looked during the 1930s.

Here is a comparison photo:


This lookout site is listed in Ray Kresek’s “Fire Lookouts of the Northwest” book and at the time of this page creation it was still shown on several resources as a lookout still standing at its officially used location (because the lookout barn/building is still standing there).

Getting There

STARTING FROM DARRINGTON, WA:
1) In the middle of Darrington along Highway 530, turn north on Railroad Avenue. Railroad Avenue is approximately one city-block west of where Highway 530 changes from west-east trending to north-south trending.

2) Drive north along Railroad Avenue for 0.3 miles, until its intersection with Price Street.

3) North of the intersection is the southeastern trailhead for Whitehorse Trail. Park in the small unpaved parking area.

4) Walk northbound along Whitehorse Trail for approximately one city-block length.

5) Look for an opening in the bushes on the right (east) side of the trail. The Darrington Ranger Station Lookout Barn is near the trail. Visiting the barn is acceptable but public access inside of the barn is generally not allowed.

Images

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