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Fire lookout · Lake County, California

Pinnacle Rock Lookout Site

Pinnacle Rock lookout, Mendocino NF, Lake County: built 1923, staffed in 1945, removal date unknown. Now a summit reached by a forest drive and rock steps; no source describes remains.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Listed on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register with no removal date. A climbing guide says the peak 'once had a fire lookout.'

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. A climbing guide describes a forest drive to within a short walk of the summit and says the Mendocino National Forest land has no posted restrictions or permits required; no closure is mentioned in any source read.

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Forest drive to within a stroll of the summit rocks, then rock steps a short distance up to class 2 summit rocks, according to a climbing guide.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan 4AR cabin on a short, open timber tower, reached by a short stairway up the rock faceThe design: D-5 (4-AR)
Built of
Wood
Built
1923
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,562 ft (1,391 m)
Agency
US Forest Service, Mendocino National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lake County, California
Coordinates
39.14760, −122.76509
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-pinnacle-rock

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.4 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. 1923 BuiltRegister gives 1923 as the build year. Single source; no other source read gives a date.Source: firetower.org
  2. No record between 1923 and 1945
  3. 1945 StaffedRegister: standing and staffed in 1945. A 1945 Forest Service photo caption describes a woman who drove her own motorcycle to carry supplies to her lookout station.Sources: firetower.org, flickr.com
  4. No record between 1945 and 2020
  5. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered February 1, 2020, nominated by Brad Eells.Source: firetower.org
  6. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Pinnacle Rock lookout stood in the Mendocino National Forest in Lake County, at 4,562 feet, or 1,390 meters.1 The register dates it to 1923.1 The register describes a California Region 5 Plan 4AR cabin on a low, open timber tower, with a stair up the rock face to reach it.1

According to the register, the lookout was still up and manned in 1945.1 A 1945 Forest Service photo caption says a woman named Dale Nicholas drove her own motorcycle to bring supplies from Clear Lake up to her lookout.2 The photo's title spells the name Nichols.2

The Former Fire Lookout Sites register lists the removal date as unknown.1 A climbing guide says the peak "once had a fire lookout."3

The climbing guide describes a forest drive that ends a short walk from the summit, then a brief climb by rock steps onto summit rocks rated class 2.3 It says the road passes below the peak's southwest slope.3 It also says the national forest land has no posted restrictions and requires no permits.3 No source we read says what, if anything, is left of the lookout itself.

  1. Pinnacle Rock Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/pinnacle-rock-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Dale Nichols rides motorcycle to Pinnacle Rock Lookout, Flickr (USFS Mendocino National Forest), https://www.flickr.com/photos/mendocinonf/52344320883/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Pinnacle Rock, SummitPost, https://www.summitpost.org/pinnacle-rock/910518 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Pinnacle Rock Lookout - 1945
Pinnacle Rock Lookout - 1945 (1945)Photo: Upper Lake Ranger District Collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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. 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.