FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · San Diego County, California

Lyons Peak Lookout

A lookout has stood on Lyons Peak since 1913; the present 1964 cab is closed to the public by private land and litigation, and a 2021 shutter project was suspended.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. Tower surrounded by private land; access severely limited by litigation; helicopter or law enforcement escort only; base no longer open to the public.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
No public route to the tower. The chapter says access is by helicopter or law enforcement escort only.
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 2021)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower13x13-ft CL-30 series steel cab on a 41-ft L-1600 series K-brace tower (chapter); NHLR gives a CL-160 cabCab: CL-100; tower: L-1600 steel tower
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
3,741 ft (1,140 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Cleveland National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
San Diego County, California
Coordinates
32.70193, −116.76367
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-lyons-peak

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 2.8 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. 1913 BuiltFirst lookout: a narrow 5x5-ft ground cabin on the rock (NHLR); the chapter says the peak has hosted a lookout tower since 1913.Sources: nhlr.org, ffla-sandiego.org
  2. No record between 1913 and 1964
  3. 1964 BuiltPresent cab with catwalk constructed in 1964 (NHLR).Source: nhlr.org
  4. No record between 1964 and 2008
  5. 2008 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, December 16, 2008.Source: nhlr.org
  6. 2018 EventFFLA stabilization grant of $300 to the San Diego Riverside Chapter, plus chapter funds, for plywood, paint and bolts to weatherproof the lookout; access limited by right-of-way litigation.Source: firelookout.org
  7. 2018 RestoredEmergency stabilization funds bought wood, bolts and paint to cover the windows; materials hauled up on 9 May and decomposing ceiling plywood removed.Source: firelookout.org
  8. 2021 AlteredVolunteers airlifted in by sheriff helicopter fixed plywood shutters over the windows to protect the cab; the project is marked suspended.Source: firelookout.org
  9. 2021 RestoredOn 22 December volunteers, flown in by sheriff helicopter, fixed plywood shutters over the windows to protect the cab.Source: firelookout.org
  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.

Lyons Peak sits in San Diego County inside the Cleveland National Forest, an island of federal land surrounded by private property.1,2

A fire lookout has stood on the peak since 1913.2 The first structure was a 5-by-5-foot cabin set directly on the rock at ground level.1 The chapter describes that first structure as resembling a telephone booth.2

The present cab was built in 1964.1 The sources disagree on its model.1,2 NHLR describes a CL-160 metal cab, while the chapter describes a 13-by-13-foot CL-30 steel cab on a 41-foot K-brace tower, which it calls the only such pairing in California.1,2

Today the only ways in are by helicopter or with a law-enforcement escort, and the chapter says the base of the peak has closed to the public.2 A chapter report says private land encircles the tower and litigation sharply restricts who can reach it.3

That report also describes a December visit on which chapter members, flown in by a sheriff's helicopter, covered the cab's windows with plywood against vandals and bad weather.3 The same report marks the project as suspended, and the chapter's page says the interior still needs refurbishing before the lookout can return to service.3,2

NHLR registered the lookout on December 16, 2008.1 If the access problem is resolved, the chapter hopes to save the cab for restoration and operation.3

  1. Lyons Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/lyons-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Lyons Peak, FFLA San Diego-Riverside Chapter, https://www.ffla-sandiego.org/fire-lookout/southern-california-towers/lyons-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. California-South Chapter Report 2021, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-south-ca-2021.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Lyons Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1913 photo
1913 photo (1913)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
October 2022 photo
October 2022 photo (2022)Photo: HPWREN, 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1964
    • FFLA San Diego-Riverside Chapter: 1913

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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. FFLA San Diego-Riverside Chapter Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, 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
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.