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Fire lookout · San Luis Obispo County, California

Caliente Mountain Lookout-AWS Site

Aircraft Warning Service ground cabin on Caliente Mountain (San Luis Obispo County), built 1943; collapsed by 2013 and listed as removed; access restricted.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cabin collapsed by 2013; the register lists the structure as removed, with collapsed remains

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. A February 2013 blog post says ranchers and oil-company security blocked the writer's attempt on the south side of the peak, a climb he called off-limits; no public route is described

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabGround cabin with an observation cupola, built for Aircraft Warning Service use
Built of
Not recorded
Also served as
Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
Built
1943
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,109 ft (1,557 m)
Agency
United States Army Ground Observer Corps
Land
Unknown
Location
San Luis Obispo County, California
Coordinates
35.03634, −119.76029
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-caliente-mountain-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 3.0 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. 1935 EventDistrict Ranger E. M. Lyda planned to investigate a lookout on Caliente peak (Santa Maria Times, October 1935, as quoted by Forest Lookouts)Sources: californialookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  2. 1943 BuiltBuilt for Aircraft Warning Service use; ground cabin with observation cupolaSource: firetower.org
  3. No record between 1943 and 2012
  4. 2012 EventCabin found fully collapsed, per a February 2013 blog post; the blogger estimates it fell before early May 2012 from summit entriesSource: davidstillman.blogspot.com
  5. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 20, 2019 as US 1861, CA 56, nominated by Brad EellsSource: firetower.org
  6. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Caliente Mountain is San Luis Obispo County's high point.1 A 1935 Santa Maria Times report, as quoted by Forest Lookouts, said District Ranger E. M. Lyda planned to look into a lookout on Caliente peak; he believed most of the Cuyama Valley would be visible from it.2

The Aircraft Warning Service, the civilian volunteer arm of the Army Ground Observer Corps, built a station on the peak in 1943.3,4 The register says the design, a cabin on the ground topped by a viewing cupola, was unique to the service.3 The register also notes that most of these stations watched for fires as well as planes.3

Volunteers noted each aircraft they spotted in paper records, then telephoned the sightings in.4 The service was deactivated on May 29, 1944.4

The register lists the structure as removed and says a collapsed structure remains.3 A February 2013 blog post by David Stillman says he found the cabin entirely collapsed.5 From summit entries, he judged that it likely fell before early May 2012.5 He also wrote that its collapse had been expected for years.5

Access looks restricted. Stillman says ranchers and oil-company security blocked his attempt on the south side of the peak, a climb he called off-limits.5 We found no source that describes a public route, so visitors should not plan a trip to the site.

The register's newest photo is from 2013.3 No source we read describes what stands on the peak today beyond that collapsed cabin.

  1. Caliente Mountain, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliente_Mountain (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Caliente Mountain - Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/caliente-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Caliente Mountain Lookout-AWS Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/caliente-mountain-lookout-aws-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Aircraft Warning Service, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Warning_Service (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Caliente Mountain Lookout (HPS). A(nother) death in the family, David Stillman, http://davidstillman.blogspot.com/2013/02/caliente-mountain-lookout-hpscuyama.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Caliente Mountain Lookout-AWS - 1943
Caliente Mountain Lookout-AWS - 1943 (1943)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1986
1986 (1986)Photo: Fred Johnson, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1998
1998 (1998)Photo: Mark Swift Collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2001
2001 (2001)Photo: www.peakbagging.com, 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, type, wartime use, register numbers, agency, 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: status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.