We went up during several fires (31) , lots of smoke, no visible flame from the tower. Visibility changed with the wind, in the evening the smoke cleared and we could see the milky way! Overall great place, but be prepared for a ruthless stair climb. There was a pully and rope, but too thin to pull up anything heavy. The bats came out at night also, low bugs.

Very interesting place, THERE IS NOT COTS as it says. The view is amazing, the road is good there. There is nothing out the. The peace and quiet is wonderful.

Family of four stayed in LOOKOUT BUTTE historic watch tower for a week in early July 2023. We have stayed in several of these tall towers, but this one is the tallest we have seen. The cabin log tells of some nervous visitors who chose to sleep on the ground. We LOVED it! Lookout Butte is in Nez Perce-Clearwater NF, and all visitors who are unfamiliar with the roads there should come with one of the USDA’s maps for that area. There is cell service at the tower but NOT along any of the access roads leading to the tower, and don’t expect to be guided by road signs. We bought our map for $14 at the USFS office in Grangeville, ID. The drive up from Lowell took us 70 minutes on Road 470, with all but the first 5 min on gravel road. The route up from Kooskia (Road 286) took us 90 minutes and close to half of that was paved. Both of those roads share the same final route the last 18 minutes to the tower. Before coming, we read several warnings about needing a high clearance vehicle for the final 200-meter access road to the tower. We drove our fully loaded Sienna van up, but we are used to driving rough roads, so we might feel comfortable going where others would not. It did get very steep. Fires were burning nearby, and the view was hazy the whole time but that made the sunsets pretty. The days were all hot and sunny, but we kept the heat down by hanging sleeping bags over the east windows in the a.m. and the west windows in the p.m.