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Fire lookout · Riverside County, California

Estelle Mountain Lookout

1935 CCC lookout on Estelle Mountain, Riverside Co., CA; moved about 1958 to Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base, where it still serves as the ground control tower; original site has a concrete slab.

The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at Hemet-Ryan

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. The original Estelle Mountain site has no tower. The lookout has stood at Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base since about 1958.

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. At Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base, a working air base. No source describes public access there or at the original preserve site.

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
Moved
Type
Cab on a tower14-by-14-foot cab on a 30-foot steel K-brace tower (FFLA-SDRC calls the cab BC-301; the register calls it C-3)The designs: C-3, BC-301, L-1600 steel tower
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
California Division of Forestry and the CCC built it (NHLR); administered today by the County of Riverside (NHLR)
Land
Unknown
Location
Riverside County, California
Coordinates
33.76748, −117.42191
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-estelle-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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.2 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 BuiltConstructed on Estelle Mountain by the California Division of Forestry and the CCC.Sources: nhlr.org, ffla-sandiego.org
  2. 1936 FireA November 1936 item from the same newsletter says the lookout spotted a fire eight miles away and sent a crew to a bonfire on that exact spot.Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1936 StaffedAn October 23, 1936 California Ranger item, quoted by Forest Lookouts, says a Forest Service lookout named Hutchinson hosted about twenty Scouts in the tower.Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1936 and 1957
  5. 1957 EventThe Forest Service began operations at Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base.Source: ffla-sandiego.org
  6. 1958 MovedMoved from Estelle Mountain to Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base. The register says about 1958, FFLA-SDRC says before 1960, and the marker and Peakbagging say 1958.Sources: nhlr.org, ffla-sandiego.org, peakbagging.com
  7. No record between 1958 and 2008
  8. 2008 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register on December 16, 2008 as US 752, CA 83.Source: nhlr.org
  9. Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to Hemet-Ryan.Source: FFLA
  10. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. 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.

Estelle Mountain sits between Corona and Lake Elsinore in Riverside County.1,2 The Civilian Conservation Corps and the California Division of Forestry built a lookout there in 1935.1,2 The cab was a 14-by-14-foot design on a 30-foot steel tower.1,2 The sources name the cab design differently: the register calls it a C-3 cab, while the FFLA-SDRC page calls it a BC-301.1,2

In October 1936 a California Ranger item, quoted on the Forest Lookouts site, says a Forest Service lookout named Hutchinson hosted about twenty Scouts inside the tower.3 A November 20, 1936 item from the same newsletter refers to the lookout as the 'Wandering Spirit of Estelle Peak.' It says that spirit spotted a fire eight miles away and sent a crew to a bonfire on that exact spot.3

The tower was taken apart and moved to the Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base.2,1 The sources give different years. The register says about 1958, the marker and Peakbagging say 1958, and FFLA-SDRC says before 1960.1,4,5,2 The Forest Service began operating at Hemet-Ryan in 1957.2

The lookout still stands at the air base and works there as the ground control tower.2 The marker at the control tower says the lookout was built on Estelle Mountain in 1935 and moved in 1958.4 The register lists the lookout as registered on December 16, 2008.1

The tower sits at a working air base, and no source we read describes public visits there.2 Check with the base before going.

The original site, just east of Interstate 15, is now a preserve.2 FFLA-SDRC calls it the Lake Mathews Estelle Mountain Preserve, while Peakbagging calls the area an ecological reserve.2,5 A high-voltage transmission line runs over the spot.5 Peakbagging's photo captions describe a square concrete slab with a survey benchmark placed in 1939, and remains of a wood pole that could have been part of the lookout.5 No source we read describes public access to the original site.

  1. Estelle Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/estelle-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Estelle Mountain, FFLA-SDRC, https://www.ffla-sandiego.org/fire-lookout/southern-california-towers/estelle-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Estelle Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/estelle-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Airtanker 82 Historical Marker, Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=257953 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Estelle Lookout, Riverside County, California, Peakbagging, http://www.peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/EstelleLO.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. FFLA San Diego-Riverside Chapter Gave us: what it is built of, design, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, San Diego-Riverside Chapter (ffla-sandiego.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, designs, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the chapter's page it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. 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.