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Fire lookout · Coconino County, Arizona

Woody Mountain Lookout

A 46-ft Pacific Coast Steel tower erected by a CCC crew in 1936 on Woody Mountain, NRHP-listed 1988 and still standing; no public visit route found.

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. Coconino National Forest, administered by the U.S. Forest Service (Peaks Ranger District cooperator). No public visitor information, trail or rental listing was found in the sources read; check with the Forest before visiting.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower46 ft steel tower with 7x7 ft cab, provided by Pacific Coast Steel, one of relatively few towers that company suppliedThe design: Pacific Coast Steel
Built of
Wood
Built
1922
Height
46 ft (14.0 m)
Elevation
8,006 ft (2,440 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Coconino County, Arizona
Coordinates
35.14227, −111.75155
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-az-woody-mountain

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 3.2 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. 1910 EventRegister says a tree stand occupied the site from 1910 to 1921Source: nhlr.org
  2. 1912 StaffedChosen as a primary lookout point where a man was stationed at all times, with telephone connection to the Supervisor's officeSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1922 BuiltWood tower with cab constructed on the site (the earlier tower, since replaced)Sources: nhlr.org, westlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1936 BuiltCCC crew erected the present 46-foot Pacific Coast Steel tower with 7x7 cab, replacing the wood towerSources: nhlr.org, westlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1936 and 1988
  6. 1988 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesListed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRIS 87002458) as part of the National Forest Fire Lookouts in the Southwestern Region multiple listing; start time 28 January 1988Sources: npgallery.nps.gov, wikidata.org
  7. 2001 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 1, 2001 as US 375, AZ 20; nominated by Dave Lorenz, AZ/NM FFLASource: nhlr.org
  8. 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.

Woody Mountain Lookout is a 46-foot steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab, at 8,006 feet in Coconino County, Arizona.1 The U.S. Forest Service administers it, and the register names the Peaks Ranger District as a cooperator.1

The spot was in use well before the current tower. A Forest Lookouts timeline says that on January 20, 1912, Woody Mountain was chosen as a primary lookout point, with a man on duty at all times and a telephone connection to the Supervisor's office.2 The register says a tree stand stood on the site from 1910 to 1921, and a wood tower replaced it, standing from 1922 to 1936.1 The timeline records a wood tower with a cab in 1922, and says a CCC crew erected the present 46-foot tower in 1936.2 The register ties the current tower's construction to the end of the wood tower's use in 1936.1

The register says Pacific Coast Steel provided the tower, one of relatively few towers that company supplied.1 The National Register record lists the CCC and Pacific Coast Steel Co. as its architects.3 It lists the tower in a multiple listing of national forest fire lookouts in the Southwestern Region, dated January 28, 1988.3,4

The register lists April 1, 2001 as its registration date, with a nomination by Dave Lorenz of the AZ/NM FFLA.1 The register gives no staffing status for the tower, and the timeline lists no staffing after 1912.1,2

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Arizona list shows the tower as standing.5 The timeline has no entries after 1936.2

I found no public visitor information, trail or rental listing for the tower in the sources I read, so whether the public may climb it is unknown. Check with the Coconino National Forest before planning a visit, and do not climb the tower unless the Forest Service says it is open.

  1. Woody Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/az/woody-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Woody Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/woody-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Woody Mountain Lookout Tower, National Register of Historic Places (NPGallery), https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/87002458 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Woody Mountain Lookout Tower, Wikidata, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q86927400 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Arizona fire lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/az/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Woody Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Woody Mountain Lookout
Photo: Ldr5020, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

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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. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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

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