Find Nearby Peaks

This peak is not in the book. Published June 2019

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Long Tom Mountain is located 36.0 miles WNW of Salmon, Idaho. A fire lookout is located on a point just south of the summit. USGS Long Tom Mountain

Bing Young provided the following history of the lookout:

If any one point on the Forest had to be selected as being the most important for a lookout, it is likely that Long Tom would be the site most preferred. By 1920, Long Tom had been selected as a site of  primary importance and by 1924 a small 10′ x 10′ building was in place on the point. Long Tom has since been rebuilt twice–in the CCC era and again in 1977, making it the most rebuilt lookout in the Forest.  

So far as can be determined, Long Tom has been manned every year since the early 1920’s. In addition to this, there is another cabin near the lookout where the smokechasers once lived. Long Tom, which sits at 8,168 feet, is not located on the mountain top, but at the sheer edge of a point in front of the mountain. At this place, one can see “up the Middle Fork” canyon like no other place, and there are excellent views of the Salmon River Canyon.

Long Tom was the place where author Jeanne Beaty worked one Summer. Mrs. Beaty summarized her experiences in the 1952 publication called Lookout Wife, which contains memories (if slightly biased ones) of the locals then working, and contains vivid descriptions of the country around Long Tom.

Long Tom is mostly easily reached by vehicle on a road up Colson Creek or Spring Creek. Hikers willing to endure a steep 5,100-foot vertical climb can reach Long Tom by trail from Colson Creek or, in an even more strenuous hike, from the mouth of the Middle Fork up Long Tom Creek. The lookout gets its name from an old mining device used extensively on Long Tom Creek. —Salmon National Forest Fire Lookouts by Bing Young 1982, Page 29.