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Fire lookout · Tehama County, California

Colby Mountain Lookout

A CCC-built 1934 lookout in Lassen National Forest; a closure reported in January 2026 was reversed in February, and the 2026 season status is unconfirmed.

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. Active lookout. The register says it is open from June until late October. Its closure was reversed in February 2026; I found no later report.

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower14x14 ft L-4 cab with catwalk on a 30-ft steel towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Steel
Built
1912
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
5,973 ft (1,821 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Tehama County, California
Coordinates
40.14670, −121.52110
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-colby-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 3.4 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. 1912 BuiltFirst lookout on the siteSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1912 and 1934
  3. 1934 BuiltCivilian Conservation Corps replaced the 1912 lookout with the present L-4 cab on a 30-ft steel towerSources: nhlr.org, latimes.com
  4. No record between 1934 and 2001
  5. 2001 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 6, 2001; nominated by Ken Jordan, primary lookoutSource: nhlr.org
  6. No record between 2001 and 2025
  7. 2025 EventJordan was told he would not return the next year; KRCR reported the tower was slated for demolitionSource: krcrtv.com
  8. 2026 ClosedPer the Los Angeles Times (January 2026), the Forest Service had shut the lookout; a spokesperson wrote that it was closed for the winter, as each year, and that no decision had been made about its futureSource: latimes.com
  9. 2026 EventChico Enterprise-Record reported that the Forest Service reversed the closure and the lookout would remain staffed for fire seasonSource: chicoer.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.

Colby Mountain Lookout stands in the Lassen National Forest, in Tehama County.1 The register places it 25 miles south of Lassen National Park.1 The site got its first lookout in 1912.1 The Civilian Conservation Corps replaced it in 1934 with the present tower, a 14-by-14-foot cab on a 30-foot steel tower.1,2

Early records are thin but lively. A December 1913 item says the mountain's fourth lookout was manned only in the daytime.3 In 1920 Mrs. John Willis took up the job.3 Fifteen minutes into her new duties, she noticed smoke rising from a forest fire in a valley the peak looks down on, and the paper credited her prompt report to headquarters with curbing a fire that might have caused serious damage.3

Ken Jordan was the lookout for decades.1 The register lists him as nominator and primary lookout when it added the site on October 6, 2001, and says he completed his 35th year there in 2019.1 A local TV report from October 2025 gives 41 years, and the Chico Enterprise-Record gives 40.4,5 The register says the lookout is still active and open from June to late October.1

In early October 2025, KRCR reports, Jordan was told he would not be back the next year, and that the tower was slated for demolition.4 Jordan disputes that the tower is unsafe. He says it is in good condition.4

In January 2026 the Los Angeles Times reported that the Forest Service had shut down the lookout. A Forest Service spokesperson wrote that the lookout was closed for the winter, as it is each year, and that no decision had been made about its future.2 On February 6, 2026, the Chico Enterprise-Record reported that the Forest Service had reversed its decision to close it, and that the lookout would stay staffed through fire season.5

I found no report after February 2026. I cannot say whether the lookout was staffed through the 2026 season or what the Forest Service plans for it next. Check with the Almanor Ranger District before you visit, and stay off the tower if it is closed.

  1. Colby Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/colby-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. A remote fire lookout worker fights for his job, Los Angeles Times, https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2026-01-30/essential-california-fire-lookout-closing (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Colby Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/colby-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Colby Mountain fire lookout tower set for demolition, sparking community outcry, KRCR, https://krcrtv.com/news/local/colby-mountain-fire-lookout-tower-set-for-demolition-sparking-community-outcry (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Forest Service reverses decision to close historic Colby Mountain Lookout, Chico Enterprise-Record, https://www.chicoer.com/2026/02/06/forest-service-reverses-decision-to-close-historic-colby-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Colby Mountain Lookout - New paint - 2019
Colby Mountain Lookout - New paint - 2019 (2019)Photo: Lassen National Forest, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout Ken Jordan completed his 35th year at Colby Mountain in 2019
Lookout Ken Jordan completed his 35th year at Colby Mountain in 2019 (2019)Photo: Lassen National Forest, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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, height, agency, access, staffing, 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.