FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Greenlee County, Arizona

Rose Peak Lookout

A 1929 Aermotor MC-24 lookout on Rose Peak in Arizona's Apache-Sitgreaves forest, with its cab replaced in 1981; sources disagree on its height and build year.

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. The register lists an active Forest Service station. Whether visitors may enter the cab is not confirmed.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
A closed dirt road leads to the top, per an undated trip report
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor MC-24 cab on a steel tower; cab replaced in 1981 with a 14x14 ft R-6 wood flat-top live-in cab with catwalkThe designs: R-6, Aermotor MC-24
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1929
Height
300 ft (91.4 m)
Elevation
8,705 ft (2,653 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Greenlee County, Arizona
Coordinates
33.43970, −109.37060
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-rose-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. 1929 BuiltAermotor MC-24 lookout built to replace several earlier wood platform towers; a 1929 USFS photo shows it under construction. A 1928 newspaper item already calls the steel tower recently completed.Sources: nhlr.org, westlookouts.weebly.com, flickr.com
  2. No record between 1929 and 1981
  3. 1981 AlteredOriginal 12x12 ft cab replaced with a 14x14 ft R-6 wood flat-top live-in cab with catwalkSources: nhlr.org, westlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1981 and 2002
  5. 2002 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 4, 2002 as US 423, AZ 30; nominated by Dave LorenzSource: 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.

Rose Peak Lookout stands at 8,705 feet in Greenlee County, Arizona, in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.1 The National Historic Lookout Register added it on March 4, 2002, with Dave Lorenz of the AZ/NM FFLA as nominator.1

The register dates the present tower to 1929 and says the Aermotor MC-24 lookout was meant to succeed several earlier wood platform towers.1 The sources do not fully agree on that year. A newspaper item from August 1928, quoted on a Forest Lookouts page, calls the steel tower "recently completed."2 A 1929 Forest Service photograph of the tower under construction is in the public domain.3 I have kept 1929, which the register and the photograph both support.1,3

Heights disagree too. The register gives 30 feet for the tower and Forest Lookouts gives 20 feet, while a National Geodetic Survey station description that page quotes puts the overall height at about 50 feet.1,2 The one 300-foot figure in these sources describes a slope in a 1928 newspaper account of an accident, not the tower.2 In 1981 the original 12-by-12-foot cab gave way to a 14-by-14-foot wood cab of the R-6 type, with a flat top, living quarters and a catwalk.1

The register says the station remains active and lists the Clifton Ranger District as a cooperator.1 I found no dated record of staffing. An undated trip report says a closed dirt road leads to the top and that the tower appeared to be staffed, though the lookout had not come out yet when the writer reached the summit early in the day.4 I could not confirm whether visitors may go up into the cab, so check with the Clifton Ranger District before you climb.

  1. Rose Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/rose-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Rose Peak, Forest Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/rose-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Rose Peak Lookout Tower during its construction, Gila National Forest Historic Photo Collection, Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/swregion/52830555743 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Rose Peak, rangeoflight.net, http://rangeoflight.net/rose_peak.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Rose Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Rose Peak Lookout Tower during its construction, 1929 (USFS photo, FS # 233862)
Rose Peak Lookout Tower during its construction, 1929 (USFS photo, FS # 233862) (1929)Photo: I. B. Nash, USFS; Gila National Forest Historic Photo Collection (Region 3 Photography, Flickr) · 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, 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: what it is built of, design, 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, agency, access, visiting details, dates, photos, 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.