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Fire lookout · Gila County, Arizona

Colcord Lookout

Also known as Colcord Mountain

Tonto NF lookout on Colcord Mountain: 1925 and 1928 Aermotor towers, present 83-ft steel tower built after 1959 plan; NHLR-registered 1996; still standing.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Reached by Forest Road 291 from Forest Road 512; the guide says the tower is open about May to October. No source says visitors may climb it

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 1996)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower83-ft steel tower with 14x14 CL-100 cab (present); earlier towers were 50-ft (1925) and 35-ft (1928) AermotorsThe designs: CL-100, Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1925
Height
83 ft (25.3 m)
Elevation
7,449 ft (2,271 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Gila County, Arizona
Coordinates
34.24678, −110.86093
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-colcord

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. 1925 Built50-foot Aermotor tower with a 7x7 cab erectedSources: westlookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  2. 1928 BuiltSecond Aermotor tower, 35 feet tall with a 7x7 cab; the register says both towers were apparently operated at the same timeSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1928 and 1959
  4. 1959 EventJuly 10, 1959 regional memo: bids being accepted for three lookouts to be built in fiscal 1960; memo says it should be possible to contract the Colcord tower's erection before winter, and that the Tonto should consider dismantling the old lookout when the new one is readySource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1965 RemovedRegister says both older towers and a CCC ground living quarters were removed sometime after 1965Source: nhlr.org
  6. 1965 Replaced by a new structurePresent 83-foot steel tower built, sometime after 1965 per the register; the 1959 memo had planned a new tower for fiscal 1960, so 1965 is a placeholder yearSources: nhlr.org, westlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1965 and 1996
  8. 1996 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register on November 27, 1996Source: nhlr.org
  9. 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.

Colcord Lookout stands on Colcord Mountain in the Tonto National Forest, in Gila County, Arizona 1,2. The register gives its elevation as 7,449 feet, while a local tourism guide gives 7,513 feet 1,3.

The first tower was a 50-foot Aermotor erected in 1925 2,1. The register says a second Aermotor, 35 feet tall, went up in 1928, and that both towers were apparently in use at the same time 1.

In July 1959 a regional memo said bids were being taken for three new lookouts to be built in fiscal 1960. The memo said it should be possible to contract erection of the Colcord tower before winter, and that the Tonto should consider dismantling the old lookout once the new one was ready for occupancy 2. The register tells a different story about the date. It says that sometime after 1965 both older towers and a CCC ground living quarters were removed, and the present 83-foot steel tower was built 1. The sources do not agree on when the present tower went up, so I have not picked a year.

The present tower has a 14-by-14-foot metal cab with a catwalk 1. The register, which records a November 1996 registration, says the lookout is staffed by the Pleasant Valley Ranger District of the Tonto National Forest 1. I did not find a readable account of notable fires at the lookout.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Arizona list shows the tower as standing 4.

Today the Discover Gila County guide says the lookout "offers a sweeping panorama of the Young area and the Mogollon Rim," and that the tower is open about May to October, reached by turning west three miles on Forest Road 291 from Forest Road 512 3. I found no source saying visitors may climb the tower. The register describes it as a staffed fire lookout 1, so check with the Pleasant Valley Ranger District before going up.

  1. Colcord Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/colcord-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Colcord Mountain - 1, Forest Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/colcord-mountain---1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Sierra Ancha Wilderness, Discover Gila County, https://discovergilacounty.com/sierra-ancha-wilderness/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Arizona Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/az/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Colcord Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Colcord Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, staffing, visiting details, 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

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