FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Coconino County, Arizona

Elden Lookout

Also known as Elden Mountain Lookout Tower, Mount Elden

A 54-foot metal lookout above Flagstaff, built in 1977 after the Radio Fire damaged its 1926 tower; registered on the NHLR in 2001.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Reached by trail from downtown Flagstaff. No source read confirms whether the cab itself is open to visitors.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Trail from downtown Flagstaff, per the National Historic Lookout Register
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerPresent 54-ft metal tower with a CL 100 live-in cab with catwalk (built 1977), replacing a 37-ft Aermotor tower erected in 1926The design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1914
Height
54 ft (16.5 m)
Elevation
9,224 ft (2,812 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Coconino County, Arizona
Coordinates
35.24100, −111.59680
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-elden

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. 1914 BuiltForest Service completed a new lookout station on the highest point of Elden Mountain, with a one-room house for the rangerSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1926 Built37-ft Aermotor tower erected on the siteSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1926 and 1950
  4. 1950 StaffedBill Pradt's 23-year career as fire lookout on Mount Elden ended as the season closed; much fire control work ran through the lookout by radioSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1950 and 1977
  6. 1977 BurnedRadio Fire, a human-caused wildfire of 4,600 acres, burned to the crest and damaged the 1926 towerSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  7. 1977 Replaced by a new structure54-ft metal tower with a CL 100 live-in cab with catwalk constructedSources: nhlr.org, peakbagging.com
  8. No record between 1977 and 2001
  9. 2001 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 1, 2001 as US 372; nominated by Dave Lorenz, Director, AZ/NM FFLASource: nhlr.org
  10. 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.

Elden Lookout stands on Mount Elden, directly above Flagstaff, Arizona, and the National Historic Lookout Register says a trail reaches it from downtown.1,2 In February 1914 the Forest Service completed a new lookout station on the highest point of Elden Mountain, with a one-room house for the ranger.2 The site received a 37-foot Aermotor tower in 1926.1

A December 1950 newspaper item reports that the close of the fire season also ended Bill Pradt's 23 years as Mount Elden's lookout.2 The same item adds that the lookout's radio carried much of the forest's fire control work.2 I did not find a dated record of who staffs the tower today.

The 1977 Radio Fire burned to the crest, and the 1926 tower served until that fire damaged it.1,3 Wikipedia describes that fire as human-caused and says it burned 4,600 acres on the mountain's southern and southeastern slopes.3 The replacement, a 54-foot metal tower with a CL-100 live-in cab, was built the same year.1,4

The National Historic Lookout Register added Elden on April 1, 2001, as US 372, nominated by Dave Lorenz of the AZ/NM Forest Fire Lookout Association.1 The register gives the lookout site an elevation of 9,224 feet, while Wikipedia gives the mountain's summit as 9,301 feet, so the two sources measure different spots.1,3

The register's page describes the tower as in active service on the Peaks Ranger District.1 Access is by trail from downtown Flagstaff.1 I could not confirm whether the cab itself is open to visitors. Plan on a hike, and check with the Forest Service before you climb.

  1. Elden Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/elden-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mount Eldon, Forest Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/mount-eldon.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Mount Elden, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Elden (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Elden Mountain, Arizona, PeakBagging, http://www.peakbagging.com/AZPhotos/EldenMtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Elden 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, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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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