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Fire lookout · Shasta County, California

Bear Mountain (Shasta Bear) Lookout

Also known as Shasta Bear

Shasta County steel lookout tower, built 1980 around a 1933 CCC-era lookout; Bear Fire evacuated it in 1990; Cal Fire Shasta-Trinity; NHLR-registered 2019.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. About 5 miles from paved road, behind locked gates, per the Register

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerPlesha design (Plan No. 1548-lA) steel tower with a second-story room and 732-6A type cab; steel columns first intended for atomic bomb test towersThe designs: CDF 732-6A, BC-301
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,628 ft (801 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection - Shasta-Trinity Unit (Cal Fire SHU)
Land
Federal land
Location
Shasta County, California
Coordinates
40.72556, −122.25903
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-bear-mountain-shasta-bear

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 3.7 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. 1933 BuiltOriginal CCC-era lookout (L-601 with BC-301 cab), per the Register's description. The Built field gives 1980 for the current steel towerSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1933 and 1980
  3. 1980 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  4. 1980 Replaced by a new structureOlder tower and cab demolished; steel tower erected around the original and finished with a second-story room and 732-6A cabSource: nhlr.org
  5. 1990 FireBear Fire overran the site, forcing evacuation of the lookout stationSource: nhlr.org
  6. No record between 1990 and 2019
  7. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 31, 2019 as US 1377, CA 200Source: 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.

Bear Mountain, also called Shasta Bear, is a Shasta County lookout whose register entry gives 1980 as its build year.1 The register says the steel tower of that year was erected around an older lookout from the 1930s.1 The original was a Civilian Conservation Corps era lookout, and after the older tower and cab were demolished, a new steel tower was finished with a second-story room and a cab.1

The register calls the design a Plesha plan and says the steel columns were first meant for atomic bomb test towers.1 It also notes that this was the first tower the state forestry agency built using these materials.1 The cab is a 732-6A type.1

A Cal Fire list from the 2008 fire season names the lookout among those that may be staffed that year.2 The same list says most lookouts are staffed only during peak fire season.2 No source shows who staffed it, or whether it was staffed after 2008.

The Bear Fire overran the site in 1990, and the lookout station was evacuated.1 The register records the lookout as US 1377 and CA 200, registered on October 31, 2019.1

The register says the site is about five miles from a paved road and sits behind locked gates, so access is restricted.1 None of the sources read describes the cab's current condition. If you are curious about it, ask Cal Fire's Shasta-Trinity Unit before going near it, and respect the locked gates.

  1. Bear Mountain (Shasta Bear) Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/bear-mountain-shasta-bear-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. CAL FIRE Lookouts (2008 fire season staffing list), hosted at citlink.net, https://www.citlink.net/~dburnett/CAL%20FIRE%20DATA/Lookouts.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Bear Mountain (Shasta Bear) Lookout - 2007
Bear Mountain (Shasta Bear) Lookout - 2007 (2007)Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Bear Mountain (Shasta Bear) Lookout
Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1953 - BC-301 Cabin on an enclosed timber tower
1953 - BC-301 Cabin on an enclosed timber tower (1953)Photo: National Archives, via 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, register numbers, agency, 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: ownership, 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, 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.