FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Navajo County, Arizona

Gentry Lookout

1965 Forest Service tower in Navajo County with a live-in CL-100 cab, replacing a 1927 Aermotor; NHLR-registered 2009 and listed standing. Access and staffing not found.

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
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower70-foot tower with 14 by 14 foot CL-100 series metal live-in cab and catwalkThe designs: CL-100, Aermotor
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1965
Height
70 ft (21.3 m)
Elevation
7,724 ft (2,354 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Navajo County, Arizona
Coordinates
34.30139, −110.71361
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-gentry

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 3.3 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. 1927 Event62-foot Aermotor tower it replaced; the Register dates it to 1927Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1927 and 1965
  3. 1965 BuiltRegister build year; the Forest Service post agreesSources: nhlr.org, facebook.com
  4. 1965 Replaced by a new structurereplaced the 62-foot Aermotor towerSource: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1965 and 2009
  6. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout Registerregistered September 2, 2009 as US 827, AZ 74Source: 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.

Gentry Lookout is a 70-foot tower in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, in Navajo County, Arizona, and the U.S. Forest Service administers it.1

The National Historic Lookout Register gives 1965 as the build year. The tower has a 14-by-14-foot CL-100 series metal cab with a catwalk, which the Register describes as a live-in cab.1 A Forest Service post repeats the 1965 date, the 70-foot height and the cab size.2

It replaced a 62-foot Aermotor tower that the Register dates to 1927.1 The Register recorded the lookout on September 2, 2009, as US 827, AZ 74.1

The Forest Service's Gentry Campground sits at the base of the tower. It offers five individual family sites, or the whole campground can be rented as one group site for up to 75 people.3 Recreation.gov says the campground shares its space with the tower and gives directions: take Forest Road 300 south for about four and a half miles, following signs to the tower.4

I found no source that names the people who staffed the tower or describes a fire it reported.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Arizona list shows the tower as standing.5 The Forest Service also warns visitors to stay away from the tower during lightning storms.3

None of these sources says whether the public may go up into the cab. Before planning any climb, check with the Black Mesa Ranger District, which the Register names as a cooperator. Do not climb a tower that is closed or private.1

  1. Gentry Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/gentry-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Facebook post on the Gentry Lookout, U.S. Forest Service Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, https://www.facebook.com/apachesitgreavesnfs/posts/we-have-a-really-great-fire-lookout-tower-on-the-apache-sitgreaves-nfs-built-in-/1819240211632638/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Gentry Campground, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/apache-sitgreaves/recreation/gentry-campground (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Gentry Group Campground, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/118994 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Arizona Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/az/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Gentry 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 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.