FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Mariposa County, California

Miami Mountain Lookout

A 1934 Civilian Conservation Corps lookout on a 20-foot steel tower in the Sierra National Forest, staffed by volunteers since paid staffing ended in 1995.

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 volunteer lookout on Forest Service land. Do not park by the locked gate on the access road; the approach on foot is about two and a half miles. Neither source says whether the cab is open to visitors.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About two and a half miles of hiking to the tower from the access road off California Highway 49. Do not park by the locked gate.
Staffing
Staffed by volunteers

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower14 x 14 ft C-3 cab with catwalk on a 20 ft H-braced steel towerThe design: C-3
Built of
Steel
Built
1934
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
4,285 ft (1,306 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Mariposa County, California
Coordinates
37.41924, −119.74514
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-miami-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 3.3 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. 1934 BuiltBuilt by the CCC; both sources give 1934Sources: nhlr.org, fire-lookouts.org
  2. No record between 1934 and 1995
  3. 1995 EventPaid staffing discontinued because of budget cutbacks; volunteers have staffed the tower sinceSource: fire-lookouts.org
  4. 1999 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 21, 1999 as NHLR US 305Sources: nhlr.org, fire-lookouts.org
  5. 2006 EventVolunteer Joe Knowles Jr. died on the evening of October 26 while on duty at the towerSource: fire-lookouts.org
  6. 2009 EventTower dedicated by the Sierra National Forest in Knowles's memorySource: fire-lookouts.org
  7. 2009 RestoredWeather station taken apart and refurbished.Sources: firelookout.org, firelookout.org
  8. 2011 RestoredInterior and exterior renovation continued with Forest Service archaeologist approval; the Fire Finder base and rail were refurbished with repainted brackets and stainless steel rods.Source: firelookout.org
  9. 2012 AlteredWeather station installed during fiscal 2012; interior and exterior renovation reported in the 2011 and 2012 reportsSource: fire-lookouts.org
  10. 2012 RestoredInterior of the cab and the windows were painted; flooring, cabinet and stair-strip replacements were still awaiting archaeologist approval.Source: firelookout.org
  11. 2016 RestoredChapter funds paid for new cabinet corner counters, end cabinet cases and top material, and hardware, tools and supplies for the cab.Source: firelookout.org
  12. 2017 ClosedLookout was not opened for the 2017 season because of early-rain road washouts, dead trees and fires, with no equipment available to repair roads.Source: firelookout.org
  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.

Miami Mountain Lookout stands on Miami Mountain in the Sierra National Forest, just north of Nipinnawasee and about a mile west of California Highway 49.1 The Civilian Conservation Corps built it in 1934, and the Forest Service put it into service that same year.2,1 A 1933 visibility study had identified the site as the only permanent lookout location on the forest that had not been used as one before.1 The cab is 14 feet square and sits on a 20-foot steel tower with a catwalk.2

Paid staff worked the tower until budget cuts ended paid staffing in 1995.1 Local volunteers have staffed it since, during a fire season that begins around May 15.1

Volunteer Joe Knowles Jr. died in the evening of October 26, 2006, while working at the tower.1 In 2009 the Sierra National Forest named the tower in his honor.1

Volunteer reports describe interior and exterior renovation in 2011 and a weather station installed during fiscal 2012. The live cameras were never swapped out or fixed, so the public can no longer watch live from the tower.1

According to the register, the lookout is still in active use, and volunteers now staff it.2 The private volunteer site's page was last updated in February 2017 and has no updates on tower work after 2012, so its present condition is unconfirmed.1

Visitors should avoid parking near the locked gate, since the site warns that a parked car may be towed. The walk from there to the tower is about two and a half miles.1

Sources differ on a few details. The register places the tower on the Mariposa Ranger District and gives an elevation of 4,285 feet, while the volunteer page places it on the Bass Lake Ranger District at 4,327 feet.2,1 The volunteer page also gives two distances from Highway 49, one mile and about two miles.1

  1. Miami Mountain Fire Lookout, Sierra National Forest, Rich Camp, fire-lookouts.org (a private volunteer site), https://www.fire-lookouts.org/cali/miami_mtn/index.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Miami Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/miami-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Miami Mountain Lookout - 2010
Miami Mountain Lookout - 2010 (2010)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Miami Mountain Lookout - 1945
Miami Mountain Lookout - 1945 (1945)Photo: sierranewsonline.com, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Miami Mountain Lookout
Photo: Mark Swift, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Miami Mountain Fire Lookout
Miami Mountain Fire LookoutPhoto: fire-lookouts.org (Rich Camp) · Reuse allowed with credit · 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. California Fire Lookouts of the Sierra National Forest and Other Areas (fire-lookouts.org) Gave us: register numbers, staffing, photos, links fire-lookouts.org · Public information per the site's disclaimer, credit requested. Facts + a short description reused under that permission -- see extra.license per record. · retrieved 4 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. 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.