Fire lookout · Riverside County, California
Estelle Mountain Lookout (now at Hemet-Ryan)
Also known as Estelle Mountain Lookout, Hemet-Ryan
1935 CCC-era 14x14 cab on a 30-ft steel tower on Estelle Mountain; moved about 1958 to Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base, where it now works as a control tower.
- Standing
- Restricted access
- Verified
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. Located at Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base, a working air base. The sources do not describe public access.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- The sources describe the tower at an air base and do not describe a public visiting route.
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower14x14 cab with catwalk on a 30-ft steel towerThe design: C-3
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- 1935
- Height
- 30 ft (9.1 m)
- Elevation
- 1,512 ft (461 m)
- Agency
- County of Riverside, California
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Riverside County, California
- Coordinates
- 33.73031, −117.02193
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ca-estelle-mountain-at-hemet-ryan
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 3.1 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
- 1935 BuiltConstructed on Estelle Mountain by the California Division of Forestry and the CCC.Sources: nhlr.org, ffla-sandiego.org
- 1936 FireA November 20, 1936 California Ranger item says the lookout spotted a fire eight miles away and sent a crew to a bonfire at that spot.Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1936 StaffedAn October 23, 1936 California Ranger item, quoted by Forest Lookouts, says a Forest Service lookout hosted about twenty Scouts in the tower.Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1936 and 1958
- 1958 MovedMoved from Estelle Mountain to Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base. NHLR says about 1958, FFLA says before 1960, and the marker and Peakbagging say 1958.Sources: nhlr.org, ffla-sandiego.org, peakbagging.com
- No record between 1958 and 2008
- 2008 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered on the National Historic Lookout Register: December 16, 2008.Source: nhlr.org
- Date unknown MovedMoved from Estelle to Hemet-Ryan.Source: FFLA
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Estelle Mountain, between Corona and Lake Elsinore in Riverside County, got a fire lookout in 1935.1 The California Division of Forestry and the Civilian Conservation Corps built it, and the cab was a 14-by-14 design on a 30-foot steel tower.2,1
A November 1936 ranger newsletter item, quoted on a lookout history site, says the lookout spotted a fire eight miles away and sent a crew to a bonfire at that exact spot.3 An October 1936 item in the same newsletter says a Forest Service lookout hosted about twenty Scouts in the tower.3
The tower was taken apart and moved to the Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base, about 1958.2,1,4,5 The sources do not agree on the exact year. The register says about 1958, the FFLA history page says before 1960, and the marker and a photo site both say 1958.2,1,4,5 The Forest Service started operating at Hemet-Ryan in 1957.1
Today the lookout stands at the air base and still works there as its ground control tower.1,5 A historical marker at the tower says it was built in 1935 on Estelle Mountain and moved in 1958.5 The register listed it on December 16, 2008.2
The original mountaintop site is now a preserve, though the two sources name it differently.1,4 A high-voltage transmission line also runs over the spot.4
Because the tower sits at a working air base,1,5 the sources do not describe public visits. Check with the base before going.
- Estelle Mountain, FFLA-SDRC, https://www.ffla-sandiego.org/fire-lookout/southern-california-towers/estelle-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Estelle Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/estelle-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Estelle Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/estelle-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Estelle Lookout, Riverside County, California, Peakbagging, http://www.peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/EstelleLO.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Airtanker 82 Historical Marker, Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=257953 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: name, type, status, register numbers, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages (opens another site) Gave us: register numbers, links FFLA chapters and Friends groups (each link names the group) · Links to the groups' own pages; facts only from the California-South chapter's tower table (register page, operator, condition). No text or photos reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- 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
- NHLR register entry US 752 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Estelle Lookout, Riverside County, California (Peakbagging) (opens another site)
- Airtanker 82 Historical Marker (Historical Marker Database) (opens another site)
- FFLA California lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA California-South chapter: Southern California lookouts (opens another site)
- Estelle Mountain lookout: FFLA San Diego-Riverside chapter (opens another site)
- FFLA San Diego - Riverside Chapter (opens another site)
- Estelle Mountain Lookout - Forest Lookouts Page (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.