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Fire lookout · Apache County, Arizona

Greens Peak Lookout

A 54-foot metal lookout on the White Mountains' Greens Peak, built in 1962 to replace a 1933 Aermotor tower; registered on the NHLR in 2002.

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 high-clearance 4WD up FR 61C, or about 2 miles on foot from FR 117. No source read confirms whether the tower itself is open to visitors.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
FR 117 north from State Route 260 near Pole Knoll Recreation Area, then FR 61 to FR 61C; about 2 miles on foot from FR 117 per Arizona Highways
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower54-ft metal tower with a 14 x 14 CL 100 live-in cab with catwalk (built 1962), replacing a 1933 Aermotor MC24 lookoutThe design: Aermotor MC-24
Built of
Steel
Built
1933
Height
54 ft (16.5 m)
Elevation
10,099 ft (3,078 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Apache County, Arizona
Coordinates
34.11195, −109.57437
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-greens-peak

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. 1933 BuiltAermotor MC24 lookout built on the summit (PeakBagging spells it Aeromotor)Sources: nhlr.org, peakbagging.com
  2. No record between 1933 and 1962
  3. 1962 Replaced by a new structure54-ft metal tower with a 14 x 14 CL 100 live-in cab with catwalk constructed, replacing the 1933 Aermotor MC24Sources: nhlr.org, peakbagging.com
  4. No record between 1962 and 2002
  5. 2002 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 4, 2002; nominated by Dave Lorenz, Director, AZ/NM FFLASource: 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.

Greens Peak sits in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, and Arizona Highways ranks it the loftiest of the rounded volcanic summits in one section of the White Mountains.1,2 A fire lookout, an Aermotor MC24 tower, went up on the site in 1933.1,3

In 1962 that tower was replaced with a 54-foot metal tower topped by a 14-by-14-foot CL-100 live-in cab with a catwalk.1,3 The register lists the tower as in active service and names the Springerville Ranger District as its cooperator.1 The National Historic Lookout Register added Greens Peak on March 4, 2002, nominated by Dave Lorenz of the AZ/NM Forest Fire Lookout Association.1

The sources disagree on elevation. The register gives the lookout site as 10,099 feet, Arizona Highways gives the summit as 10,134 feet, and PeakBagging lists 10,135 feet.1,2,3 I found no staffing history or notable fire record for this tower in the sources I could read.

Getting there depends on your vehicle. Forest Road 117 runs north from State Route 260 near Pole Knoll Recreation Area, and Forest Road 61 leads to FR 61C, which goes on to the lookout.2 Arizona Highways says the side trip is steep and rutted enough to need a high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicle, and that the lookout is about two miles on foot from FR 117 for those who would rather walk.2 I could not confirm whether the tower itself is open to visitors, so check with the Springerville Ranger District before you climb.

  1. Greens Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/greens-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Greens Peak, Arizona Highways, https://www.arizonahighways.com/greens-peak (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Greens Peak Lookout, Arizona, PeakBagging, http://www.peakbagging.com/AZPhotos/GreensPeak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Greens Peak 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: 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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