FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Pima County, Arizona

Mount Bigelow Lookout

A 53-ft metal tower built in 1958 on Mount Bigelow in the Catalina Mountains; the wood cabin was removed in 2013 and the metal platform was left.

Standing: The tower still stands, but its cab is gone (FFLA).

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 tower53-ft Army CL-100 metal tower with a 14x14 ft cab; the 2013 summary calls the cab wood R-6, the register says metal; the cab was removed in 2013, leaving the platformThe designs: R-6, CL-100
Built of
Steel
Built
1958
Height
53 ft (16.2 m)
Elevation
8,434 ft (2,571 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Pima County, Arizona
Coordinates
32.41540, −110.71340
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-mount-bigelow

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. 1926 EventLookout station on Mount Bigelow reported a forest fire of several acres on the east side of the Galiuro MountainsSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1929 EventForest Service called for bids on a 48-ft steel tower to replace a condemned wooden structureSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1937 StaffedCharles Noll's fifteenth year as the Coronado National Forest fire detector on the mountain; his tower and log cabin are described as 50 ftSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1940 StaffedA newspaper named Lloyd Basteen as ranger in charge of the lookoutSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1940 and 1958
  6. 1958 Built53-ft metal tower with an Army CL-100 cab; the register and the 2013 summary both give 1958Sources: nhlr.org, gvrhc.org
  7. No record between 1958 and 2003
  8. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 31, 2003Source: nhlr.org
  9. 2013 RemovedWood cabin removed, beginning 23 April 2013; the metal platform was leftSource: gvrhc.org
  10. 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.

Mount Bigelow stands at 8,434 feet in the Santa Catalina Mountains of Pima County, on the Coronado National Forest.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register dates the present tower to 1958 and describes a 53-foot metal tower with an Army-design CL-100 cab.1 A 2013 summary of the register describes a 14-by-14-foot wood cabin on a CL 100-106 metal tower, which it also dates to 1958.3 The two descriptions disagree about the cab: the register says metal, and the 2013 summary says wood.1,3

Earlier history comes from newspapers. A lookout station on the mountain reported a forest fire of several acres on the east side of the Galiuro Mountains in June 1926.2 In January 1929 the Forest Service called for bids on a 48-foot steel tower to replace a condemned wooden structure.2 A 1937 item describes a 50-foot tower and log cabin and names the lookout as Charles Noll.2 A 1938 item calls Charles Nolles the "Hermit of Mount Bigelow" for his 17-year seasonal vigil on the mountain.2 The newspapers spell his name two ways.2 In 1940 a newspaper named Lloyd Basteen as ranger in charge of the lookout.2 In 1969 a Forest Service dispatcher said that at times the lookout could not see the Rincon Mountain next door.2 The sources I read do not say whether any of these early structures is the one standing today.

The 2013 summary says the lookout went inactive after several antennas, two of them television antennas, were built beside it, because radiation from the antennas was considered hazardous to rangers occupying the lookout.3 The Forest Service did not plan to use the lookout again, so removal of the wood cabin began on 23 April 2013 and was soon finished. The metal platform was left.3

The register added Mount Bigelow on January 31, 2003.1 The summary includes a photo of the metal platform as it looked in 2014, after the cab was removed, but I found no later source on the tower's current state.3 I found no source saying the public may go up, and the summary describes antennas beside the tower, so please don't climb it.3

  1. Mount Bigelow Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/mount-bigelow-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mount Bigelow, Forest Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/mount-bigelow.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Mount Bigelow Fire Lookout, GVRHC, https://www.gvrhc.org/Library/MountBigelowFireLookout.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Bigelow 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.

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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.