FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Tulare County, California

Park Ridge Lookout

Park Ridge in Kings Canyon National Park has been a fire lookout site since 1916, is reached only on foot, and is staffed by volunteers.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Open daily to the public during fire season, usually mid-May through October; may close without notice.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Hike 5 miles round trip from Panoramic Point, or take the 5-mile loop from the Manzanita Trail. No water or toilet on site.
Staffing
Staffed by volunteers (as of 2026)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerSteel tower about 20 feet high, with a cab on topThe design: CL-100
Built of
Not recorded
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
7,471 ft (2,277 m)
Agency
National Park Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Tulare County, California
Coordinates
36.72422, −118.94445
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-park-ridge

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 3.0 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. 1916 BuiltEstablished as an open-air platform with a lean-to shelter.Sources: buckrock.org, nps.gov
  2. 1929 BuiltTwo-story wooden lookout, per the register. The NPS article dates it to 1934.Source: nhlr.org
  3. 1940 EventPark Service took sole responsibility; joint management with the Forest Service ended.Source: buckrock.org
  4. No record between 1940 and 1956
  5. 1956 First staffedMattie Simms staffed it every fire season from June 1956.Source: buckrock.org
  6. 1964 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  7. 1964 Replaced by a new structureSteel tower replaced the wooden lookout and was moved about a quarter mile southwest.Sources: buckrock.org, nps.gov
  8. 1967 EventRegister says its 13-foot-square CL-100 cab went into service.Source: nhlr.org
  9. 1974 EventLongtime lookout Mattie Simms, on duty since 1956, retired in October; staffing was sporadic afterwards.Source: buckrock.org
  10. 1974 Last staffedMattie Simms retired in October 1974; staffing was sporadic afterward.Source: buckrock.org
  11. No record between 1974 and 1996
  12. 1996 ClosedClosed permanently.Source: buckrock.org
  13. 1996 Last staffedClosed permanently until the Foundation's agreement.Source: buckrock.org
  14. 2004 EventReopened under a cooperative agreement; Buck Rock Foundation volunteers staff it each fire season.Source: buckrock.org
  15. 2004 RestoredLightning protection system updated and electrical system replaced; further updates to continue in 2005.Source: firelookout.org
  16. 2004 StaffedReopened under a cooperative agreement with the Park Service; staffed by Buck Rock Foundation volunteers since.Source: buckrock.org
  17. 2007 RestoredCeiling repaired in fall 2007 to stop roof leakage; floor replacement planned for 2008.Source: firelookout.org
  18. 2010 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 19, 2010.Source: nhlr.org
  19. 2013 EventCeremony at the lookout marking the register listing, August 3, 2013.Source: nps.gov
  20. 2025 AlteredNew stove, a custom outhouse step and a friendlier catwalk gate; trees around it were cleared to widen the view.Source: buckrock.org
  21. 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.

Park Ridge Lookout sits at the southern end of Park Ridge, just east of Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park, and people have used the spot to watch for fires since 1916.1,2 The first version was an open-air site with a lean-to for shelter.1,3

A two-story wooden lookout came later. The register dates it to 1929, while the National Park Service's account says 1934.2,3 The Forest Service and the Park Service shared management of the site until 1940, when the Park Service took sole charge.1

In 1964 the wooden building was replaced by a steel tower about 20 feet high, set about a quarter mile southwest of the old site.1,3 The register describes a 13-foot-square cab that went into service in 1967.2 Buck Rock and the National Park Service article both give the steel tower as 14 feet square.1,3

From June 1956 until she retired in October 1974, Mattie Simms was the firewatcher for every fire season.1 The Park Service article spells her name Sims.3 Staffing was sporadic after that, and the lookout closed for good in 1996.1

The Buck Rock Foundation led the effort to nominate the lookout for the National Historic Lookout Register, working with the two parks.3 The register dates the listing to October 19, 2010, and a ceremony at the lookout on August 3, 2013 honored the new listing.2,3 Under a cooperative agreement with the Park Service, the lookout reopened in 2004, and foundation volunteers have covered every fire season since.1

Today visitors can come daily from 10:30 am to 5 pm in fire season, typically mid-May through October, though the lookout may close at any time without notice for fire activity, weather or other reasons.1 There is no vehicle access, so visitors hike five miles round trip from Panoramic Point or take a five-mile loop from the Manzanita Trail.1 There is no water or toilet on site, and visitors are asked to pack out their trash.1 When it is staffed, the cab serves as the firewatcher's workplace and home, and staffing normally runs around the clock.1

  1. Park Ridge Lookout, Buck Rock Foundation, https://buckrock.org/park-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Park Ridge Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/park-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Wildland Fire: Park Ridge Lookout National Historic Lookout Register, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/articles/wildland-fire-park-ridge-lookout-national-historic-register-seki.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Park Ridge Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Park Ridge Lookout - Original Structure
Park Ridge Lookout - Original StructurePhoto: National Park Service, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1931
1931 (1931)Photo: National Park Service, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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
    • Wikidata: 1964
    • Buck Rock Foundation: 1916

    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. Buck Rock Foundation Gave us: design, staffing, dates, links Buck Rock Foundation (buckrock.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 foundation's page it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR 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. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: height, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  7. 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
  8. FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages Gave us: 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
  9. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.