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Fire lookout · Del Norte County, California

Camp Six Mountain Lookout Site

Also known as Camp Six

Del Norte County lookout first built by 1923; its cab moved to Bear Basin Butte in 1997 and is rented there, while only tower piers remain at the original site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Gone from the original site: only the tower piers remain. The cab was moved to Bear Basin Butte in 1997 and is rented there.

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
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 20-foot open timber tower, which replaced an earlier lookout structureThe design: BC-301
Built of
Wood
Built
1923
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
3,768 ft (1,149 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Siskiyou National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Del Norte County, California
Coordinates
41.83058, −123.87680
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-camp-six-mountain

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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.6 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. 1923 BuiltFirst lookout structure on Camp Six Mountain, per the register and a 1939 Siskiyou history. Other sources give 1934, 1935 or 1939 for other structures or dates; see resolved_conflicts.Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1924 StaffedAndy Flynn held the lookout post (Blue Lake Advocate, June 1924)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1929 StaffedPhil Stevens described as the veteran lookout on Camp 6 Mountain (Six Twenty-Six, October 1929)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1929 and 1954
  5. 1954 EventThree young men shot out the station's windows and agreed to pay for the damage in installments (Humboldt Standard, May 1954)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1954 and 1991
  7. 1991 RestoredNHLR says restoration of the Camp Six lookout began; vandals then damaged it furtherSource: nhlr.org
  8. 1997 MovedCab moved to Bear Basin Butte, refurbished and put into the rental programSources: californialookouts.weebly.com, fs.usda.gov
  9. 1997 RemovedCab removed from the tower on Camp Six MountainSource: firetower.org
  10. No record between 1997 and 2020
  11. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: January 27, 2020Source: FFLOS register entry
  12. 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.

Camp Six Mountain, in Del Norte County on the Siskiyou National Forest, had a lookout by 1923.1,2

A federal survey datasheet, quoted on one lookout history page, describes a wooden tower about 40 feet high and dates it to 1939, which does not match the 1923 date.2 The National Historic Lookout Register says Civilian Conservation Corps crews built a lookout on Upper Coon Mountain in 1934.3 A Forest Service page says the corps built one in 1935 on French Hill, at Camp Six.4

A later cabin, built to California Region 5 Plan BC-301, stood on a 20-foot open timber tower in place of the first structure.1 Andy Flynn held the lookout post in 1924, and a 1929 item describes Phil Stevens as an experienced hand at Camp 6 Mountain.2

In 1954 three young men shot out the station's windows. They admitted it and were settling the cost in installments.2

In 1997 the cab was removed from the tower and moved to Bear Basin Butte, where it was refurbished and added to the rental program.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register says restoration at Camp Six began in 1991, but vandals damaged the lookout further, and the Forest Service then removed, rebuilt and relocated it.3

At the original site, just the tower's piers are left.1 A federal survey record also mentions a concrete pier under one leg of the tower.2 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the Camp Six site as gone and the Bear Basin structure as relocated.5

The cab now stands on Bear Basin Butte, which the Forest Service puts at 5,303 feet.4 The register gives 5,145 feet and says the Smith River National Recreation Area administers the site.3 The Forest Service rents the lookout and a separate cabin, built at the time of the move.4 The fee is $75 a night for one to eight people, and July through September bookings go through recreation.gov.4 The walk up is a steep, unpaved 250-foot path with 13 steps, and there is no water or power.4

No source we read describes access to the piers at the original Camp Six site.1

  1. Camp Six Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/camp-six-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Camp Six Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS (newspaper excerpts and NGS datasheet quote), Forest Lookouts California pages, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/camp-six-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Camp Six Lookout at Bear Basin Butte, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/camp-six-lookout-at-bear-basin-butte/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Bear Basin Butte Lookout and Pierson Cabin, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/destination/bear-basin-butte-lookout-and-pierson-cabin (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. California Lookouts by county, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ca/ca-co/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Camp Six Mountain Lookout - Circa 1948
Camp Six Mountain Lookout - Circa 1948 (1948)Photo: Gasquet Ranger District Archives, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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: 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: height 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, 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.