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Fire lookout · Monterey County, California

Anderson Peak Lookout - AWS Site

Also known as Anderson PK

Los Padres AWS post built 1942 and rebuilt 1943; its cabin moved to Marble Peak and was lost in the 1984 Gordo-Rat-Creek Fire. Site today not described.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The cabin was moved to Marble Peak and later consumed in the 1984 Gordo-Rat-Creek Fire; no source describes the site now

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Type unknown1943 standard AWS post with a ground cabin and observation cupola; the 1942 first building was a small one-room cabinThe design: Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Also served as
Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
Built
1942
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,099 ft (1,249 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Los Padres National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Monterey County, California
Coordinates
36.18082, −121.64302
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-anderson-peak-lookout-aws

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.1 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. 1942 BuiltSmall one-room building erected in mid-1942 for the Aircraft Warning Service (register); the history page says a small one-room cabin was constructed for the AWSSources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1942 First staffedHarry and Lillian Ross staffed the post in mid-1942Source: firetower.org
  3. 1943 Built'Built' field on FFLOS detail pageSource: FFLOS register entry
  4. 1943 Replaced by a new structureStandard AWS post with a ground cabin and cupola replaced the original buildingSources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1949 MovedCabin bought and moved to Marble Peak as a private summer retreat. The history page says the late 1940s; the register says some time in the 1950s. The year is approximate.Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1949 and 1984
  7. 1984 BurnedThe moved cabin was consumed in the Gordo-Rat-Creek Fire. The register's removal field says 1984 - Wildfire for the site.Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1984 and 2019
  9. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 22, 2019 as US 1869, CA 64Source: firetower.org
  10. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

Anderson Peak, in Monterey County's Los Padres National Forest, got its first lookout in 1942.1,2 A small one-room cabin went up that year for the Aircraft Warning Service, which watched for enemy aircraft.1,2 Harry and Lillian Ross staffed it from mid-1942.1

The Forest Service built the post, supplied it and staffed it, and the Army paid the Forest Service back for everything it spent.1 Operators had to pass aircraft sightings, and any fires or smoke they saw, on to Forest Service dispatch. The peak therefore did two jobs: watching for enemy planes and detecting fires.1

In 1943 a standard post with a ground cabin and an observation cupola replaced the first building.1,2

The cabin did not stay on the peak. Someone bought it and moved it to Marble Peak, where it became a private summer getaway.2 One source dates the move to the late 1940s and the other to the 1950s.1,2 The cabin was later consumed in the Gordo-Rat-Creek Fire of 1984.1,2 The register still lists the site as removed by that wildfire, but the cabin had left the peak decades earlier.1

No source we found describes what, if anything, remains on the peak today, or whether the public can reach it.1

  1. Anderson Peak Lookout - AWS Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/anderson-peak-lookout-aws-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Anderson Peak - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (California), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/anderson-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Anderson Peak Lookout - AWS Site, 1988
(1988)Photo: "Lookouts of the Los Padres Forest" By Irma Oksen Reaves - 1988, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Anderson Peak Lookout - AWS Site, 1988
(1988)Photo: "Lookouts of the Los Padres Forest" By Irma Oksen Reaves - 1988, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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: wartime use, 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) 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, status, agency, staffing, 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.