FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Graham County, Arizona

Dry Lake Lookout

1984 steel tower built by Larson Corporation for the San Carlos Agency, replacing a 1930-era Aermotor; NHLR-registered 2005 and listed standing. No staffing or access sources found.

Tribal land: permission required

This site is on tribal land. Ask the tribe for permission before visiting, and follow its rules. On tribal land. Ask the tribe before visiting.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Tribal land: permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower80-foot steel tower with 8 by 8 foot metal cab and catwalk on three sidesThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1984
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
7,410 ft (2,259 m)
Agency
San Carlos Agency
Land
Tribal land
Location
Graham County, Arizona
Coordinates
33.35953, −109.83400
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-dry-lake

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. 1930 Event54-foot Aermotor tower in service since 1930; the tower it replacedSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1930 and 1984
  3. 1984 Builtbuilt by the Larson Corporation for the San Carlos AgencySource: nhlr.org
  4. 1984 Replaced by a new structurereplaced the 54-foot Aermotor towerSource: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1984 and 2005
  6. 2005 Added to the National Historic Lookout Registerregistered April 1, 2005 as US 633, AZ 57Source: nhlr.org
  7. 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.

Dry Lake Lookout stands on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Graham County, Arizona, and the San Carlos Agency administers it.1 The National Historic Lookout Register says the Larson Corporation built the present tower for the agency in 1984.1

The tower is 80 feet of steel, with an 8-by-8-foot metal cab and a catwalk on three sides.1 It replaced a 54-foot Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab, which the Register says had been in service since 1930.1

The Register lists the San Carlos Agency as its only cooperator and gives no staffing history. I found no source that names anyone who worked the tower or describes a fire it reported.1

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Arizona list still shows the tower as standing.2 The Register recorded the tower on April 1, 2005, as US 633, AZ 57.1

These sources do not say whether visitors may reach the tower, drive to it or climb it. Anyone thinking of a visit should ask the San Carlos Agency first, and should not climb a tower that is closed or private.1

  1. Dry Lake Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/dry-lake-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Arizona Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/az/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Dry Lake Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · 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, 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: ownership, access, 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, 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.