ARID PEAK LOOKOUT
Arid Peak Lookout is a 1934 20' L-4, originally built to watch for fires from the Milwaukee Railroad as it came down Loop Creek from the Montana line to the North Fork of the St. Joe River near Avery, Idaho. In 1969 the legs of the tower were replaced, but the lookout was not used again. In 1996 and 1997, the Idaho Chapter of the FFLA and the St. Joe Ranger District joined in a restoration project; all of the beams atop the legs and underneath the cab were replaced, as were the stairs which had collapsed in 1970. The fully-restored lookout is now on the Recreation Rental program, as it sits overlooking "The Route of the Hiawatha", a rail-trail over the trestles and through the tunnels of the abandoned Milwaukee line. The tower is on the National Historic Lookout Register.
St. Joe National Forest
7 miles north of Avery
Shoshone County, Idaho
Elevation 5306'

Click for larger image
Arid Peak in 1997
Photo courtesy of Gary Weber