Find Nearby Peaks

This peak is not in the book. Published June 2019

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Stoddard Creek Lookout is located west of the Middle Fork Salmon River and the Bighorn Crags. It is another remote spot that once housed a fire lookout. USGS Aggipah Mountain.

Bing Young summarized the lookout’s history as follows:

The Stoddard lookout has been recently abandoned (1977) and it doesn’t appear that it will be manned again. In fact, the Wilderness Planning team has recommended its destruction (and it usually doesn’t)  because of great safety dangers inside, and because it is an “eyesore” in the Wilderness Area.

The lookout was built during John Kinney’s administration as Forest Supervisor (around 1945). He took exception to the 14′ x 14′ standard size building. In his effort to save money, he ordered 10′ x 10’ lookouts instead. For this reason, Stoddard has the smallest building of any size on the forest (most of the other 10’ x 10’s have all been burned), with the exception of Sal Mountain.

Stoddard’s greatest importance as a lookout was the excellent view of the large Stoddard Creek drainage, as well as the many drainages coming off of the Bighorn Crags into the Middle Fork. It was both a primary and secondary lookout, and reported many fires over the years.

Access to Stoddard (at least on foot or by horseback) is not easy and requires at least two days along the Middle Fork-Stoddard Creek Trail from the mouth of the Middle Fork into the Main Salmon River. —Salmon National Forest Fire Lookouts by Bing Young 1982, Pages 38-39