Bolan Mountain Lookout
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 7 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
In 2024, the Siskiyou Mountain Club partnered with the US Forest Service to rebuild the Bolan Mountain Lookout after it burned down in the Slater fire in 2020. For more information on this project, check out this short film created by Vincent DiFrancesco with the Siskiyou Mountain Club. https://youtu.be/wJYSNzqWCVo Bolan Mountain Lookout is surrounded by glass windows on all sides, providing visitors with an unparalleled view of the sheer drop-offs sharp cliffs, and breath-taking views of the rugged Siskiyou Mountains. The historic lookout is available for rent during the snow-free season with a maximum length of stay being 3 consecutive nights, and guests must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Hikers may enjoy spending a day hiking the Bolan Lake Trail down to Bolan Lake. Hemmed in by conifer forest, the lake is stocked with trout, and is an ideal setting to enjoy fishing, non-motorized boating such as kayaking or picnicking at its banks. The lookout is also a prime spot for nature and scenic photography due to the stunning vistas provided. For visitors interested in astronomy, Stargazing is a popular activity on clear nights.
Facilities
The 14 x 14 foot one room cabin is designed to house a maximum of four people, and offers a primitive camping experience. The 30 to 40 steps up to the lookout are steep and uneven, so visitors should use caution when climbing to the main cabin. The room is equipped with a table, two chairs, a single bed with pad that folds out into two twins, cleaning supplies and a fire extinguisher. A vault toilet is located near the lookout. No water is available on site, so guests must pack in water for drinking, cooking and washing. Guests must also provide their own camp stove, light source, sleeping bag, towels, dish soap, matches, cooking gear, toilet paper and garbage bags.
Natural Features
From the lookout, guests are treated to expansive views of the Red Buttes and Siskiyou Wilderness areas, Preston Peak and Bolan Lake. To the north are far views of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and the Illinois River Valley. On a clear day, even Mount Shasta is visible to the southeast. Bolan Lake is a 12 acre, high mountain lake with a shoreline of Douglas fir, pine and hemlock. A dip in the cool waters provides much needed relief from a hot summer day. Clear nights provide guests with a dazzling display of stars and planets.
Nearby Attractions
Oregon Caves National Monument Discover the "Marble Halls of Oregon" nestled deep inside the Siskiyou Mountains. The caves formed as rainwater from the ancient forest above dissolved the surrounding marble and created one of the world's few marble caves. The highly complex geology found at the Monument contributes to the unusual and rare plants and animals found nowhere else but here. Experience the extensively decorated and adventurous "Marble Halls of Oregon." Kalmiopsis Wilderness Kalmiopsis Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon, within the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. It was designated wilderness by the United States Congress in 1964 and now comprises a total of 179,755 acres. There are approximately 153 miles of trails on 24 established hiking trails in the area. The Kalmiopsis Wilderness was named for Kalmiopsis leachiana, a slow-growing plant related to the rhododendron, which was discovered in the area in 1930. Red Buttes Wilderness The Unites States Congress designated the Red Buttes Wilderness in 1984 - it now includes a total of 19,940 acres. Management of the Red Buttes Wilderness, located on the California/Oregon border, is shared by the Klamath National Forest and the Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest. The majority of the Wilderness lies within the boundaries of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest."
What the agency tells you
Please note that it is not possible for us to clean these facilities in-between each guest. We are doing our best to keep these facilities clean, but we highly recommend you bring your own cleaning supplies and take some time to clean and disinfect the facility before and after you use it. Please remember that this facility is only as clean as the last person that used it and that how the facility is left will directly affect the experience of the next guest. If you have reconsidered your reservation due to safety concerns please contact Recreation.gov to request a refund.
Entry to the lookout is by combination. The combination for the lock will be provided in reservation confirmation letter. If you do not receive the gate lock combination, or don't see it on your reservation confirmation email, please contact Recreation.gov at (877) 444-6777 and a customer service representative will provide the combination over the phone.
Because of the height of the tower, this rental is not recommended for families with toddlers or young children
Everything else this campground posts · 5
The lookout tower is a no-smoking facility
Port-Orford cedar root disease is a concern in southwest Oregon. This disease can be transported through mud or dirt on vehicles. You must wash your vehicle, including the undercarriage, before you enter National Forest lands.
The area around the lookout contains sensitive plants; plant collecting is prohibited
Learn more about Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Not allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…supplies and a fire extinguisher. A vault toilet is located near the lookout. No water is available…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…toilet is located near the lookout. No water is available on site, so guests must pack in water…”
- Stay limit
- 2 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Hiking
- Stargazing
- Wildlife viewing
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA BOLAN MOUNTAIN LOOKOUT | C01 | cabin nonelectric | 1,475 ft | 71 ft | $65 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Bolan Lake CampgroundSiskiyou National Forest · 0.5 miWest Branch CampgroundKlamath National Forest · 5.9 mi
Cave Creek CampgroundOregon Caves Protective Buffer Zone Protection Area (Administrative) · 6.7 mi
Chinquapin Group CampgroundSiskiyou National Forest · 8.6 mi
Grayback Campground9.1 mi
Fort Goff CampgroundKlamath National Forest · 15 miFrom Cave Junction, OR, travel south on Highway 199 6.4 miles to the Happy Camp Road (Forest Service Road 48). Turn left and travel 17.3 miles on Happy Camp Road (FSR 48) to the junction with Forest Road 4812. Turn left and travel 4.1 miles to the junction of Forest Road 4812-040, the road to Bolan Lake Campground. Turn left again, and travel 1.1 miles to Forest Road 535. Turn right and travel 1.6 miles to the lookout. Forest Road 535 is gated. The lookout can be accessed by passenger car, but a high clearance vehicle is recommended. Early summer access can be hampered by late season snow pack. Parking is just below the lookout. The 30 to 40 steps up to the lookout are steep and uneven. The lookout can be accessed by passenger car, but a high clearance vehicle and 4WD or AWD is recommended. Early summer access can be hampered by late season snow pack. Parking is available just below the lookout.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Takilma, OR
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Bolan Mountain Lookout is in Oregon’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Cliff Bentz (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →