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Fire lookout · Santa Barbara County, California

Camuesa Lookout Site

Also known as Camuesa Peak

Los Padres NF lookout on Camuesa Peak built 1935; register says only tower piers remain, while a Peakbagging note citing a USGS datasheet says it was torn down by 1953. Sources disagree.

Ruins: Only footings or remains are left. Register says the tower piers are all that remains; Peakbagging says the lookout was torn down by 1953 per a USGS datasheet and probably nothing is left. Sources disagree

Visit & stay

Ruins: footings or remains only. There is no structure to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go. Los Padres National Forest land (register and Peakbagging). A visitor trip report on Hike Los Padres describes a road reaching a turnaround about a quarter mile past the peak. No Forest Service access or closure notice was read, so public access is not confirmed.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
A visitor's e-bike trip report describes riding the road to a turnaround about a quarter mile past the peak; the report does not mention the lookout site.

Facts

Status
Ruins
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10-foot open timber towerThe design: BC-301
Built of
Wood
Built
1935
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
3,153 ft (961 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Los Padres National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Santa Barbara County, California
Coordinates
34.54707, −119.69124
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-camuesa

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 3.0 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 BuiltRegister says constructed in 1935; Peakbagging photo caption also says built in 1935Sources: firetower.org, peakbagging.com
  2. 1936 EventOct 23, 1936 item: during a lightning storm, three lookouts including Camuesa reported a fire near a patrolman; it was the tail light of his carSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1936 and 1953
  4. 1953 RemovedPeakbagging: torn down by 1953 according to a USGS datasheet (datasheet not read). Register says removal date is unknownSource: peakbagging.com
  5. No record between 1953 and 2020
  6. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegister Date Registered: April 16, 2020Source: firetower.org
  7. TodayRuinsOnly footings or remains are 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.

Camuesa Lookout was built in 1935 on Camuesa Peak in Santa Barbara County, California, within the Los Padres National Forest.1,2 The register gives its design as a California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin, set on an open timber tower 10 feet tall.1

In October 1936, during a lightning storm, a patrolman parked along Buckhorn Road, and three lookouts, Camuesa among them, reported a fire in his vicinity.3 The 'fire' was actually the tail light of the patrolman's own car, which glowed deep red with the emergency brake on.3

The register lists the site as registered on April 16, 2020.1 It gives no removal date and says only the tower piers survive on site.1 A Peakbagging photo note says the lookout was torn down by 1953, according to a USGS datasheet, and that its writer doubts anything remains.2 The two accounts disagree.

A visitor's e-bike trip report on Hike Los Padres says riders could reach a turnaround roughly a quarter mile beyond the peak.4 No source we read describes the lookout site itself today.

  1. Camuesa Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/camuesa-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Camuesa Peak Lookout, Peakbagging, http://www.peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/Camuesa.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Camuesa Peak, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/camuesa-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Camuesa Peak, Hike Los Padres, https://www.hikelospadres.com/camuesa-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Camuesa Lookout
Camuesa LookoutPhoto: US Forest Service - Craig R. Carey Collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1943
1943 (1943)Photo: USFS - Craig R. Carey Collection, 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) 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, height, status, agency, access, 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.