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Fire lookout · Trinity County, California

Hayfork Bally Lookout

Trinity County lookout site since at least 1920; the current CL-100 cab on a 1965 steel tower is staffed by the Forest Service, with a radio site nearby.

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 Forest Service fire lookout and radio site; the sources read do not state public visiting rules.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2025)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerUSFS National Plan CL-100 13x13 cabin on a 42-foot K-Brace steel tower (1965)The design: CL-100
Built of
Steel
Built
1965
Height
43 ft (13.0 m)
Elevation
6,268 ft (1,911 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Shasta-Trinity National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Trinity County, California
Coordinates
40.65884, −123.21906
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-hayfork-bally

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 3.3 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. 1915 StaffedFrank Hoffman in charge of the lookout; Bob Dahlstrom fire guard in the sectionSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1920 StaffedMiss Elsie Luckie, Forest Service lookout, living alone at the summitSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1931 AlteredTwo-room house and horse barn for the lookout; lumber packed in by muleSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1932 EventStation abandoned for the season in OctoberSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1939 EventObserver on a 35-foot steel tower during a thunderstorm; tower charged with electricitySource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1939 and 1958
  7. 1958 EventU.S. Air Force Gap Filler radar site established near the lookout (operated 1958-63)Sources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1963 EventAir Force site discontinued and returned to the Forest ServiceSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1965 BuiltCurrent CL-100 cabin on a 42-foot K-Brace steel towerSource: nhlr.org
  10. No record between 1965 and 2019
  11. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 29, 2019 as US 1366, CA 189Source: nhlr.org
  12. 2025 StaffedStill-active fire lookout staffed by the Forest Service on the day of a July 2025 visitSource: seedsandsystems.substack.com
  13. 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.

The Hayfork Bally lookout stands at 6,268 feet in Trinity County, California, on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.1 The Register says the site has been a lookout since at least 1920.1

The current station is a Forest Service cabin of the CL-100 type, 13 by 13 feet, set on a 42-foot steel tower that went up in 1965.1 Older sources describe other towers. A 1939 newspaper item mentions a thirty-five foot steel tower, and a 1961 survey note describes a four-legged steel tower 50 feet high.2

The early staff are named in newspapers. In July 1915 a paper said Frank Hoffman was in charge of the lookout.2 By July 1920 the Forest Service lookout on the summit was Miss Elsie Luckie, who lived alone there, 15 miles from the nearest ranch house. An August 1920 report said she counted 1,250 deer in July alone.2

The site grew and had its troubles. In 1931 a two-room house and a horse barn were planned for the station, and a string of six mules packed in the lumber.2 A break-in at the station, reported in August 1932, took binoculars and other equipment. In October 1932 the station was abandoned for the season.2 In 1939 a newspaper described an observer caught on the tower during a thunderstorm, when the tower itself carried a charge.2

From 1958 to 1963 the U.S. Air Force held about a quarter acre beside the lookout, where it ran an unmanned Gap Filler radar station.1 The Forest Service took the site back in April 1963.2

The Register accepted the lookout on October 29, 2019 as US 1366, CA 189.1

A July 2025 visitor account describes the summit as a still-active fire lookout tower, staffed by the Forest Service. It also describes solar arrays powering a small building of radio repeaters, and an Osborne Fire Finder inside the station. The writer joined a local amateur radio club for a picnic there.3

The sources read do not say whether the public can visit the summit or climb the tower. Because it is an active fire station, check with the Shasta-Trinity National Forest before going.

  1. Hayfork Bally Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/hayfork-bally-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Hayfork Bally, Forest Lookouts California (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/hayfork-bally.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Smoke, Signals, and Seedlings: A Visit to Hayfork Bally, Seeds & Systems (seedsandsystems.substack.com), https://seedsandsystems.substack.com/p/smoke-signals-and-seedlings-a-visit-to-hayfork-bally (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Hayfork Bally Lookout - 2009
Hayfork Bally Lookout - 2009 (2009)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Hayfork Bally Lookout
Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Hayfork Bally Lookout
Photo: www.peakbagging.com, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Helena - Fork Fire from Hayfork Bally Lookout - 2017
Helena - Fork Fire from Hayfork Bally Lookout - 2017 (2017)Photo: Jeffrey Hamilton, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2008
2008 (2008)Photo: Laguna Hotshots, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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

  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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: height, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.