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Fire lookout · Coconino County, Arizona

Turkey Butte Lookout

1937 Aermotor MC-24 fire lookout in Coconino National Forest near Sedona, Arizona; NHLR-registered 2001; listed as standing and usually Forest Service staffed.

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
Trail
6.8-mile off-road route starting near Forest Road 231 (Woody Mountain Road); not winter maintained; onX says most four-wheel-drive and high-clearance vehicles can handle it
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower32-foot Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 14 by 14 foot wood cab without catwalk, based on the L-4 designCab: L-4; tower: Aermotor MC-24
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1937
Height
32 ft (9.8 m)
Elevation
7,330 ft (2,234 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Coconino County, Arizona
Coordinates
35.03200, −111.90330
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-turkey-butte

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. 1937 Built32-foot Aermotor MC-24 tower constructed in 1937; NHLR and Peakbagging agreeSources: nhlr.org, peakbagging.com
  2. No record between 1937 and 2001
  3. 2001 Added to the National Historic Lookout Registerregistered April 1, 2001 as US 374, AZ 19; nominated by Dave Lorenz, AZ/NM FFLA directorSource: nhlr.org
  4. 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.

Turkey Butte Lookout sits in Coconino County, Arizona, in the Coconino National Forest.1 The Register says the lookout overlooks red-rock country close to Sedona.1 The Register describes a 32-foot Aermotor MC-24 tower built in 1937 and notes that this design is rare outside New Mexico and Arizona.1 The cab measures 14 feet by 14 feet.1 The Register says the cab is wood with no catwalk, and that it is based on the L-4 design but appears quite different.1 A Peakbagging photo page gives the same height, build year and cab size, and calls the tower steel.2

The Register recorded the lookout on April 1, 2001, as US 374, AZ 19, with Dave Lorenz, director of the AZ/NM FFLA, as its nominator.1 The Register gives the elevation as 7,330 feet, while Peakbagging gives 7,374 feet. This story uses the Register's figure.1,2

Peakbagging's Arizona lookout table, revised October 2, 2024, codes Turkey Butte as usually staffed by the Forest Service.3 None of the sources read names the people who staffed it or a specific fire it watched. The trail page says the tower was set up to watch over Coconino National Forest and the nearby Sycamore Canyon and Secret Mountain areas. It adds that wildland fires have affected the surrounding forest over the years.4

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's county list shows the tower as standing under the same register number.5 Peakbagging's photo, taken July 1, 2024, calls it an active fire lookout.2 No source read describes a closure, rebuild, or move.1,2,4,5

The Register also says the site is well known to visitors.1 The trail page describes a 6.8-mile off-road route, rated easy and scenic, that begins near Forest Road 231 (Woody Mountain Road). It calls the route a primary access corridor to the lookout.4 It also says the route is not winter maintained and can become muddy and slick when wet.4 The sources read do not say whether visitors may enter the cab or climb the tower, so check with the Forest Service before a visit, and stay off any tower that is closed.

  1. Turkey Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/turkey-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Turkey Butte Lookout, Coconino County, Arizona, Peakbagging (peakbagging.com), http://www.peakbagging.com/AZPhotos/TurkeyButte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Arizona Fire Lookouts, Table 1, Peakbagging (peakbagging.com), http://www.peakbagging.com/Peak%20Lists/AZ_Lookout1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Turkey Butte, Arizona, onX Offroad, https://www.onxmaps.com/offroad/trails/us/arizona/turkey-butte-jx06po79pqko (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Arizona Lookouts (by County), Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/az/az-co/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Turkey Butte 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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.