Fire lookout · Apache County, Arizona
McKay Lookout
Also known as McKay Peak
A 1932 Aermotor MC-24 tower with a wooden 14-foot cab on the Fort Apache reservation; the register says it is still active, with no second source found.
- Standing
- Restricted access
- Verified
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. On the Fort Apache Indian Reservation (tribal land); the register gives no public visiting information.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a towerAermotor MC-24 tower with a wooden 14-by-14-foot cab and the original ground houseThe design: Aermotor MC-24
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- 1932
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 9,123 ft (2,781 m)
- Agency
- White Mountain Apache Agency
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Apache County, Arizona
- Coordinates
- 33.97597, −109.79802
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-az-mckay
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
- 1932 BuiltReplaced an earlier wooden tower; original ground house remains, per the registerSource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1932 and 1997
- 1997 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegister entry dated February 18, 1997Source: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
McKay Lookout, also called McKay Peak, stands on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Apache County.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register describes it as the only Aermotor MC-24 tower on the reservation with a wooden 14-by-14-foot cab.1 It says the tower was built in 1932 to replace an earlier wooden tower, and that the original ground house survives at the lookout.1
The register says the lookout is still active, and the entry is dated February 18, 1997.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Arizona list shows the tower as standing.3
I found no second source for the 1932 date or the cab, and no staffing report, rental listing or visiting guidance. The White Mountain Apache Agency administers the site on tribal land.1 Anyone thinking of a visit should check with the White Mountain Apache Tribe first, and should not climb the tower unless the tribe says it is open.
- McKay Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/mckay-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Arizona - Forest Lookouts, West Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/arizona.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Arizona Lookouts (by County), Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/az/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, access, 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
- NHLR register entry US 204 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Arizona - Forest Lookouts (West Lookouts) (opens another site)
- FFLA Arizona lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.