Trip Report.

After a successful but unarguably wet camping trip for Memorial Weekend, we were headed back to Portland from the Umatilla NF. The weather had cleared off significantly and was supposed to be in the mid-70s. My partner informed me there was another fire lookout just off the highway in Boardman we could see on our way home. I figured what was one more to round out the weekend. You should be able to see it from the highway if you know what you’re looking for. From I-84, we took the exit for Tower Road just after Boardman, or before depending on which way you’re driving. You will want to head towards the Love’s Travel Stop and continue past on Tower Road. It should be very obvious from this point. We turned right on one of the first roads leading off to its relative direction and then left onto an unmarked access road. We were able to walk right up to it. It was another easy on and off. I used to drive past Boardman often when I would come home from college. I always remembered it for its tree farm, but had no idea there was a fire lookout here.

History.

My partner discovered this lookout from a post in the Oregon Fire Lookouts Facebook group by Howard Verschoor. All this information was provided by Howard and I was unable to confirm the validity of this information through additional online sources. He is the head of the FFLA Oregon Chapter, so I’d consider him a reliable source. I am unsure of it’s origin date or timeline. The Aermotor tower was originally moved from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. It was used by the US Navy Bombing Range to watch for fires after their bombing practice until it was converted into a beacon light for the Boardman Airport.