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Fire lookout · Calaveras County, California

Blue Mountain Fire Lookout

A 1966 CDF-plan cab on Blue Mountain in Calaveras County that replaced a 1934 CCC lookout; CAL FIRE operates it and access is restricted.

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. The register says the station is 16 miles from paved road and access is restricted (note marked 10/91). CAL FIRE operates the lookout and does not rent its lookouts.

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Enclosed towerSingle-story CDF Plan 809RA cab, a variation of the 809R plansThe design: CDF 809R
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1911
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,071 ft (1,850 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Calaveras County, California
Coordinates
38.34204, −120.36490
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-blue-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 3.3 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. 1911 BuiltFirst permanent lookout, built from wood from the first Calaveras Ranger StationSource: nhlr.org
  2. 1914 EventForest Service leased one acre on Blue Mountain for a fire lookout and supply stationSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1914 and 1934
  4. 1934 BuiltCivilian Conservation Corps built the second lookoutSource: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1934 and 1966
  6. 1966 BuiltCurrent cab built, based on CDF plan 809RA; replaced a CCC-era lookoutSource: nhlr.org
  7. No record between 1966 and 2017
  8. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 24, 2017; nominated by Bill LuedekeSource: nhlr.org
  9. 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.

The Blue Mountain Fire Lookout sits on a sharp peak on a large, southwest-trending ridge north of the South Fork of the Mokelumne River, in Calaveras County.1 The register lists the U.S. Forest Service as administrator.1

The register says the Forest Service leased one acre on the mountain in 1914 for a lookout and supply station, and that the site was already in use before 1908.1 The first permanent lookout went up in 1911, and its wood came from the first Calaveras Ranger Station.1 The Civilian Conservation Corps put up a second lookout in 1934.1

The building standing today dates to 1966.1 The register says it replaced a CCC-era lookout, follows CDF plan 809RA (a variation of the 809R plans), and is California's sole single-story 809R tower.1 Cal Fire now operates it.1 An ALERTCalifornia post says the lookout replaced an original "1966 CCC era structure."2 That conflicts with the register's 1934 date for the CCC lookout.1,2 I have followed the register.

Old newspaper items, quoted on a Forest Lookouts page, show the lookout at work.3 In a 1922 district newsletter, a camper who lit a small brush pile to test the lookout reported that six minutes later the lookout called up to say a small smoke was rising near his camp.3 In October 1927 a lookout named J. Turner saw smoke from two fires that a woman and five children had started after getting lost, and sent a guard who found them.3

The register rates the building as excellent and says it has seen few changes since it went up.1 It also says the station is 16 miles from paved road and that access is restricted, though that note is marked 10/91.1 CAL FIRE's own lookout fact sheet lists Blue Mountain and says its lookouts may be staffed by volunteers or seasonal personnel, usually only during peak fire season. I found no staffing record for this one.4 The fact sheet also says the agency does not rent out its lookouts.4 ALERTCalifornia also runs two cameras at the site.2

  1. Blue Mountain Fire Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/blue-mountain-fire-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. ALERTCalifornia, Instagram post on the Blue Mountain lookout, https://www.instagram.com/p/C5biDnRsS7D/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Blue Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/blue-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. CAL FIRE Lookouts, CAL FIRE fact sheet, https://34c031f8-c9fd-4018-8c5a-4159cdff6b0d-cdn-endpoint.azureedge.net/-/media/calfire-website/about/communications/fact-sheets/fire-and-emergency-response/misc/lookouts.pdf?rev=62bbab0cc04d476196aa38cb39be6249&hash=B3DDEA1F83484A120E777AF13FC501EE (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Blue Mountain Lookout - 2005
Blue Mountain Lookout - 2005 (2005)Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1934 Constructed BC-301 cabin on an enclosed timber tower
1934 Constructed BC-301 cabin on an enclosed timber tower (1934)Photo: Stanislaus National Forest Archive, 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, 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. 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
  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.