FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Coconino County, Arizona

Hutch Mountain Lookout

A 1936 CCC-built 31 ft Aermotor tower on Hutch Mountain, Coconino NF, registered 2006; staffing rests on a 2018 blog and undated listings.

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?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Forest Road 135 from Forest Highway 3 (Lake Mary Road), then Forest Road 135B; a Forest Service gate sits around mile 4 and the lookout is about a quarter-mile past it
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2018)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower31 ft Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 12 x 12 ft wooden R-3 cab; built without a catwalk, steel catwalk added 2008The designs: Region 3 cab, Aermotor MC-24
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1936
Height
31 ft (9.4 m)
Elevation
8,535 ft (2,602 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Coconino County, Arizona
Coordinates
34.80250, −111.38250 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-hutch-mountain

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. 1935 EventSeptember 1935 memos propose replacing the Mahan tower with a 30 ft tower on Hutch Mountain, to be erected with CCC laborSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1936 BuiltCCC built the present tower, replacing a wooden tower from the 1920sSources: nhlr.org, arizonahighways.com
  3. No record between 1936 and 2006
  4. 2006 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 15, 2006Source: nhlr.org
  5. 2008 AlteredSteel catwalk added in the fallSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Hutch Mountain sits in the Coconino National Forest, southeast of Flagstaff.1 The first lookout there was a wooden tower from the early 1920s.2 In September 1935 the forest supervisor asked to put a tower on Hutch Mountain in place of the one on Mahan, because Hutch is higher and sees more country.3 A later memo said a 30-foot structure would be ample.3 The Civilian Conservation Corps built the present tower in 1936, replacing the wooden one.2,1

The register describes a 31-foot Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 12-by-12-foot wooden cab, built without a catwalk.2 The 1935 plans called for a 30-foot tower, so the figures differ slightly. This story uses the register's 31 feet.2,3 A steel catwalk went up in the fall of 2008.3

I found no notable fire at the lookout in these sources. A 2018 travel blog says the tower still works as a major manned viewpoint for fires in the Flagstaff area.4 An Arizona Highways article says a lookout on duty will likely give visitors permission to climb the tower.1

The register listed the lookout on March 15, 2006.2 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists it as a standing tower.5 I found no record of a move, a burn or a closure in the sources I read.

Getting there means leaving Forest Highway 3, also called Lake Mary Road, and turning onto Forest Road 135B for the summit.6,1 The road is typically open from late spring to autumn and closed in winter by snow.6 Do not climb without permission from the lookout on duty.1

  1. Hutch Mountain, Arizona Highways, https://www.arizonahighways.com/hutch-mountain (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Hutch Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/hutch-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Arizona - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow), https://westlookouts.weebly.com/arizona.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Hutch Mountain, kritterspaw (blog), https://kritterspaw.com/2018/06/24/hutch-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Arizona Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/az/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  6. Hutch Mountain Lookout, onX Offroad, https://www.onxmaps.com/offroad/trails/us/arizona/hutch-mountain-lookout-l9069kkodqew (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Hutch Mountain 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 700 m.

    • NHLR: 34.80250, −111.38250
    • FFLA: 34.80194, −111.39017

    They share a register number.

    The map uses the position from NHLR.

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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.