Werner Lookout available for rent
Following the lead of the Flathead National Forest’s popular cabin rental program, the Stillwater State Forest now is offering the Werner Peak Lookout for rent for the next few months.
Perched on top of 6,960-foot Werner Peak, the lookout offers panoramic views of the Whitefish Range and beyond. It is renting for $35 a night, starting Saturday and continuing through Nov. 1, with a four-week hiatus to put the lookout on duty during the region’s peak fire season.
For years, the Flathead Forest has been renting cabins and lookouts, often booking them months in advance.
“We were looking at the Forest Service and saying, ‘Hey, they do this. Why not us?’” said Nicole Stickney, special uses forester on the Stillwater State Forest.
Stickney said the idea for renting the lookout came up a couple years ago, and last year money was acquired to pay for some basic renovations.
“This is a pilot project,” Stickney said. “We are seeing how this works for us. This is the first one in Montana. If this goes well, there will be more coming on.”
She said the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation may consider adding another lookout in the Plains area to the rental program.
There has been a lookout building on Werner Peak for 96 years, but the existing 15-by-15-foot structure was completed in 1984. It is a four-sided building with windows on all sides, constructed on a concrete-block foundation.
Located about 24 miles north of Whitefish, it is accessible by vehicle, can accommodate four people, and is equipped with propane lights, heat, stove and refrigerator. An outhouse is available, but visitors must bring their own water because none is available on site.
Last year, the lookout was improved with new flooring, sun shades and appliances, and its propane system was refitted. Rock armoring recently was installed in the parking lot for safety purposes.
The lookout is located near the Ralph Thayer Memorial Trail, which is part of a system of trails that extend from Werner Peak to Diamond Peak and Red Meadow Lake.
Werner Peak is named for Rudolph J. Werner, a trapper who had a ranch at the head of Whitefish Lake from the 1880s to 1933. A surveyor named the peak after Werner around 1908.
The lookout is available July 16 through Aug. 15 and Sept. 15 through Nov. 1. However, if it appears to be a mild fire season, the lookout may be opened for rent during the interim period, Stickney said.
The lookout comes with a list of rental rules that will be provided to renters when they make reservations by calling the state’s Northwestern Land Office at 751-2240 or the Stillwater State Forest at 881-2371.