FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Coconino County, Arizona

Apache Maid Lookout

A 1961 metal-tower lookout on Apache Maid Mountain in the Coconino National Forest, last reported staffed in a 2011 register visit.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2011)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower14' x 14' metal CL-100 series cab on a 30' metal towerThe design: CL-100
Built of
Steel
Built
1961
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,301 ft (2,225 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Coconino County, Arizona
Coordinates
34.72500, −111.54917
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-apache-maid

View from the cab

What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

Downloads about 3.0 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1959 EventErection planned for fiscal 1960 was deferred to fiscal 1961 because of other regional prioritiesSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1961 BuiltErected by contractor Martin C. Cline; contract completed and accepted April 29, 1961Sources: nhlr.org, westlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1961 and 2006
  4. 2006 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 15, 2006Source: nhlr.org
  5. 2011 StaffedRegister visit report dated September 11, 2011 marks the lookout staffedSource: nhlr.org
  6. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Apache Maid Mountain sits about 45 miles south of Flagstaff, and its fire tower went up in 1961, about a year later than the fiscal 1960 plan.1,2 The Forest Service first meant to build it in 1959. In August of that year an Assistant Regional Forester wrote that competing work elsewhere in the region meant the tower would not go up in fiscal 1960. The memo suggested that the cab and tower material be stored safely until fiscal 1961.2

Work stopped and started. The erection could not begin until the access road was finished.2 The erection contract went to Martin C. Cline, who began on November 7, 1960. Snow stopped the work on November 17, and it resumed on April 3, 1961. The contract was completed and accepted on April 29, 1961.2 The cab is a 14-by-14-foot metal CL-100 series design on a 30-foot metal tower.1 A 1959 newspaper item, quoted on Ron Kemnow's page, said the tower would protect the Happy Jack and Beaver Creek watersheds.2

The sources disagree about the height of the peak. The 1959 newspaper called it an 8,000-foot peak, while the 1961 construction report gives 7,300 feet and the register lists 7,301 feet.2,1

A 2011 visit report on the register marks the lookout as staffed.1 I found no fire, move or closure in the sources I read. It was registered on the National Historic Lookout Register on March 15, 2006, and it sits on the Red Rock Ranger District.1 The Fire Lookout Association still lists it as a standing tower.3

Today, the sources do not say whether the tower is staffed or open to visitors, so check with the Red Rock Ranger District before going, and do not climb the tower unless staff invite you up. What you can rent is a cabin at the mountain's eastern base, listed on Recreation.gov. It was built in 1909 as a ranch house, later served as a Forest Service ranger station, and now sleeps up to six in 520 square feet. It has a propane stove but no refrigerator, and visitors bring their own drinking water and food. Passenger cars can reach it, though high clearance is recommended.4

  1. Apache Maid Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/apache-maid-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Apache Maid, Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow), https://westlookouts.weebly.com/apache-maid.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Arizona lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/az/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Apache Maid Cabin, Recreation.gov, https://recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234680 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Apache Maid Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Apache Maid Lookout
Photo: Brady Smity, Coconino National Forest, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, staffing, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.