FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Coconino County, Arizona

Jacob Lake Lookout

A 1934 steel fire tower beside Highway 67 near Jacob Lake that visitors can climb to the catwalk. Builders and height are disputed across sources.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Visitors may climb 123 open steps to the catwalk below the cab. Entry into the cab itself is restricted. No Forest Service page checked for climbing rules.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Stands beside Grand Canyon Highway (Arizona Route 67) at Jacob Lake. Climb is by steps to the catwalk below the cab.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor steel tower with a 7 x 7 ft metal cab; height given as 80 ft by markers and Wikipedia and 100 ft by the registerThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1934
Height
81 ft (24.7 m)
Elevation
8,130 ft (2,478 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Coconino County, Arizona
Coordinates
36.69966, −112.21294
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-jacob-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. 1934 BuiltSteel tower erected. Builders disputed: Civilian Conservation Corps per Wikipedia and one marker; Kanab contractors per the registerSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org, hmdb.org
  2. No record between 1934 and 1988
  3. 1988 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesAdded to the National Register of Historic Places, January 28, 1988Source: en.wikipedia.org
  4. 1996 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, December 30, 1996Source: nhlr.org
  5. 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.

The Jacob Lake tower was built in 1934 on the North Kaibab Ranger District, about 30 miles southeast of Fredonia.1,2 Who built it is not settled in the sources. Wikipedia and one roadside marker credit the Civilian Conservation Corps,1,3 while the register says it went up under the same Kanab contractors who built Big Springs.4 The height is disputed too. Both markers and Wikipedia give 80 feet,2,3,1 while the register gives 100 feet.4

A marker says solo fire watchers have been using the tower for over fifty years, and visitors can still see an Osborne Fire Finder there.3,1 The register's 2020 visit found the tower in good condition with sound stairs, and recorded it as not staffed at the time.4 A tourism listing says the tower is generally staffed from mid-May through mid-October,5 which is at odds with that October 2020 visit.

The tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 1988, and to the National Historic Lookout Register on December 30, 1996.1,4

Visitors can climb it. Wikipedia says visitors can still climb the tower, and a tourism listing describes 123 open steps up to the catwalk below the cab, with entry into the cab itself restricted.1,5 The same listing notes that the tower moves a little when the wind blows.5 The marker stands beside Grand Canyon Highway, Arizona Route 67.3 I did not read a Forest Service page that sets out the climbing rules, so check with the North Kaibab Ranger District before you go.

  1. Jacob Lake Lookout Tower, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Lake_Lookout_Tower (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Jacob Lake Lookout Tower Historical Marker, Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=94919 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Where There's Smoke... Historical Marker, Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=257806 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Jacob Lake Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/jacob-lake-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Jacob Lake Lookout Tower, GrandCanyon.com, https://grandcanyon.com/poi/jacob-lake-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Jacob Lake Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Jacob Lake Lookout
Photo: Kaibab National Forest, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · 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, 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. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: height, register numbers, dates, photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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

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