Lookout Cabin in Lassen National Forest Destroyed by Park Fire

Sep. 19—A nearly 90-year-old fire lookout cabin overlooking Lassen National Forest and the Ishi Wilderness — once used as a wartime defense station, then as a rentable vacation getaway — was destroyed in the Park Fire's blaze last month, leaving nothing behind but its stone foundation.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association confirmed last week that the McCarthy Point lookout in Lassen National Forest burned down in the Park Fire. Dozens of people lamented the loss of the building in the post's comments, several of them recounting memories of their own overnight stays at the cabin.

The McCarthy Point lookout was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936 as a two-room building where workers could monitor the surrounding wilderness for signs of a wildfire from the cabin's glassed-in bedroom. Though it was originally used for this reason, the cabin was used during World War II to monitor aircraft activity, then as a no-frills overnight rental where guests paid $75 a night to stay in the building.

"We visited the Lookout on many occasions," one commenter said under FFLA's post. "It was one of our most favorite places to stay. It was remote, rugged, and beautiful."

The McCarthy Point lookout sat at an elevation of 3,600 feet and was accessible via a winding road from Highway 32. Besides propane-powered kitchen appliances, the cabin provided little else: guests had to use wheeled carts to transport their own bedding, utensils and drinking water. But what it lacked in amenities, the lookout made up for in beauty, with its evergeen-laden views of Mill Creek Canyon and a surrounding state game refuge that harbored populations of bears, mountain lions, coyotes and Tehama deer.

The Park Fire started in late July when a man allegedly pushed a flaming car down an embankment at Upper Bidwell Park in Chico. It burned 429,603 acres and destroyed over 700 residential and commercial structures.

Another historic fire lookout, the Keller Peak lookout in the San Bernardino Mountains, was also destroyed this month as a result of the Line Fire. The lookout was built in 1926.

___

Visit SFGate, San Francisco at www.sfgate.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.