570 Radar Rd

A hand-built, fire-lookout-style tower rising above the timber on 5.6 wooded acres overlooking Idaho’s Camas Prairie, just outside Cottonwood and minutes from the Cottonwood Butte Ski Area. Listed at $284,600, with an asking terms structure of cash or conventional financing, and just nine days on the market as of this writing. This is a genuinely unusual listing, worth explaining clearly before anything else: it is sold as recreational land, not a conventional residence, and it comes with a one-of-a-kind structure that the seller built by hand.

What this actually is

Zillow lists this parcel as unimproved land, with no official bedroom or bathroom count and no square footage on file. That is accurate and important to understand going in: this is a 5.6-acre recreational property first, and the custom-built tower on it, while genuinely livable in the way a well-built cabin or yurt might be, does not carry the same designation or documentation as a conventional stick-built home. The listing describes it plainly as “a custom-built tower with an enclosed upper level and wraparound deck, built by the seller with quality and care.” Everything in this write-up reflects that framing rather than presenting invented bedroom counts or square footage Zillow itself does not report.

The setting

The property sits on 5.6 acres of mature timber, rising above the surrounding tree line with sweeping views out over the Camas Prairie. The listing calls it “the peace and privacy of this beautiful recreational property,” and the aerial photography backs that up entirely: golden tamarack mixed through dense green conifer forest, rolling prairie visible for miles in the distance, and the tower itself standing as the only structure for as far as the camera can see in any direction.

Being close to Cottonwood Butte Ski Area puts winter recreation within easy reach, and the quiet, elevated setting is exactly the kind of “true escape into nature” the listing promises — this is a property built around a view and a feeling of remoteness, not around square footage or amenities.

The tower itself

The structure is built in the classic lookout-tower style familiar to anyone who has stayed in a decommissioned U.S. Forest Service fire lookout: a steel-framed tower rising well above the surrounding canopy, topped by an enclosed upper room wrapped almost entirely in glass, with an open wraparound deck circling the outside of that upper level.

A steel staircase climbs the tower’s frame to reach the top, and once there, the wraparound deck offers an unobstructed, 360-degree vantage point over the timber and prairie below — the kind of view that is genuinely difficult to get anywhere else at this price.

Inside the enclosed upper level, windows wrap nearly the entire room, flooding the space with light and putting the full landscape on display from every seat. The build quality here stands out immediately: tongue-and-groove wood ceilings, solid wood flooring, and finish carpentry throughout that reflects real craftsmanship rather than a rough camp structure.

A small kitchenette and built-in dining table occupy one corner of the room, with enough counter space and cabinetry for basic meal prep during a stay.

The rest of the interior is furnished with a built-in bench and bed arrangement along the window wall, patterned wool blankets adding warmth and color against the wood tones, and a wood-burning stove to handle heat through the colder months — genuinely necessary at this elevation, not a decorative touch.

The land

Beyond the tower itself, the 5.6-acre parcel is described in the listing details as having a rolling slope with wooded terrain and genuine views from multiple points on the property, not just from the tower’s deck. The lot features section specifically notes “Rolling Slope, Sloped, Views, Wooded,” confirming that the appeal here extends well past the single structure.

What to know before you call

This is the most important section of this listing, and it deserves to be read in full before anyone gets attached to the photos. Zillow categorizes this property as unimproved land, with no bedrooms, bathrooms, or square footage reported, and no year-built date on file for the tower structure itself. Utilities are listed plainly as “Electricity Not Available” and “Natural Gas Not Available” — there is no conventional utility service to this property, and anyone considering it should plan around off-grid power, water, and heat from the outset rather than assume standard hookups exist or are nearby.

The road leading to the property is unpaved dirt, consistent with its remote, recreational character. The listing accepts both cash and conventional financing as listing terms, though buyers should confirm directly with a lender how a structure like this, built outside the usual single-family-home classification, is treated for loan-qualification purposes before assuming standard financing applies cleanly.

Annual property taxes run just $348, reflecting the land’s classification and the absence of a conventionally assessed structure on the tax rolls. This listing has been on the market only 9 days as of this writing, with 131 views and 15 saves tracked by Zillow so far — early days for a property this distinctive.

This property is featured in our latest Idaho roundup video, alongside twelve other Idaho cabins and homes priced at $400,000 or less. You can see more Idaho properties, off-grid cabins, and unconventional recreational land on the properties page.

The facts

Tanner Ross at Ranch West Properties is the listing agent for this property. He can be reached directly at 208-507-0517. More like this lands in the Monday email.