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Fire lookout · Trinity County, California

Black Rock Mountain Lookout

Trinity County lookout: a 1935 cabin on a 20-ft timber tower in Shasta-Trinity NF, staffed in the 1930s-40s, still standing but dilapidated and not safe to climb.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. On National Forest land, reached on foot. Sources describe the tower as not very safe to climb; do not go up it.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Hike in on trails in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness; the 2025 hike began near the West Low Gap Trailhead
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 2005)

Facts

Status
Standing sources disagree
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 20 ft open timber towerThe design: BC-301
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1935
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
7,765 ft (2,367 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Shasta-Trinity National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Trinity County, California
Coordinates
40.20457, −123.00965
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-black-rock-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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1932 StaffedG. H. McCausland stationed at the lookout for the summer; station closed for the season that OctoberSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 StaffedLeon D. Duey succeeded the previous lookoutSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1935 BuiltBuilt for the Trinity National Forest; California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 20 ft open timber towerSource: nhlr.org
  4. 1936 StaffedLookout logged 25 visitors between June 22 and October 20, 1936; 14 were Forest Service employeesSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1946 StaffedOra Snyder had been lookout for the past two years; assigned to a clerk-typist post in June 1946Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1946 and 2017
  7. 2017 Condition assessmentRegister describes the structure in poor condition but still standing as of 2017Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 24, 2020 as US 1419, CA 161; nominated by Brad EellsSource: nhlr.org
  9. 2025 Condition assessmentMay 2025 hike report found the lookout dilapidated; platform sitting around the bottom of the struts; writer did not climbSource: valhikes.blogspot.com
  10. 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.

Black Rock Mountain stands in Trinity County, in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.1 A 2025 hike report places the lookout in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness.2 The sources give the summit as 7,765 feet, 7,769 feet and 7,792 feet, so the exact figure is not settled.1,3,4

According to the register, the Trinity National Forest had the lookout put up in 1935.1 The register describes a cabin built to California Region 5 plan BC-301, raised on a 20-foot open timber tower.1

The early staffing record comes from newspaper items.3 In the summer of 1932, G. H. McCausland was stationed at the lookout, and the station closed for the season that October.3 A 1933 item says Leon D. Duey succeeded the previous lookout.3 In 1936 the lookout logged 25 visitors between June 22 and October 20, and 14 of them were Forest Service employees.3 In June 1946 a paper said Ora Snyder had been a lookout there for two years before moving to a clerk-typist post.3

The sources we found do not record a fire that struck the lookout itself. A 2025 hike report crosses ground that burned in the 2020 August Complex on the way up, but it does not mention the tower burning.2

In 2017 the register judged the structure to be in poor condition, though it still stood.1 Photos from August 2005 describe it as abandoned and in bad shape, and a caption says the tower is not very safe to climb.4 The register recorded it on April 24, 2020, as US 1419, CA 161, after a nomination by Brad Eells.1

A May 2025 hike report found the lookout dilapidated.2 Snow still half buried the stairs, which fell well short of the platform, and much of the platform sat around the bottom of the struts rather than the top.2 The writer turned back without climbing it.2

The 2025 hike reached it on foot from the West Low Gap Trailhead.2 The lookout sits on National Forest land that the U.S. Forest Service administers.2,1 Our sources say it is not very safe to climb, so please keep off the structure and check with the Shasta-Trinity office before planning a trip.4,2

  1. Black Rock Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/black-rock-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Black Rock Mountain Lookout, valhikes (blog), https://valhikes.blogspot.com/2025/05/black-rock-mountain-lookout.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Black Rock Mountain, California Lookouts (Forest Lookouts), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/black-rock-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Black Rock Mountain Lookout, California, Peakbagging.com, http://peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/BlackRock.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Black Rock Mountain Lookout - 2005
Black Rock Mountain Lookout - 2005 (2005)Photo: www.peakbagging.com, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Black Rock Mountain Lookout
Photo: Harrison Gutch Ranger Station, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Standing
    • NHLR: Standing
    • OpenStreetMap: Ruins

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, access, staffing, 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.