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Fire lookout · Monterey County, California

Pinyon Peak Lookout Site

Built in 1937 and used by the Aircraft Warning Service in WWII, the Pinyon Peak lookout was destroyed in the 1977 Marble Cone Fire; a trip report disputes the bare site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in the 1977 Marble Cone Fire. The register says nothing remains; a trip report describes four concrete pillars on the east summit.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301, open steel tower on a K-braceThe design: BC-301
Built of
Steel
Also served as
Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
Built
1937
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,256 ft (1,602 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Los Padres National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Monterey County, California
Coordinates
36.16898, −121.37952
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-pinyon-peak

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 3.0 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. 1937 BuiltConstructed 1937 (register). The Los Padres lookout history also gives 1937, with a 36-foot tower built by the CCC.Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1937 and 1977
  3. 1977 Burned'Removed' field on FFLOS detail page: "1977 - Wildfire".Source: FFLOS register entry
  4. 1977 DestroyedDestroyed in the Marble Cone Fire (register and Los Padres history). The fire burned in August 1977 in Monterey County.Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com, en.wikipedia.org
  5. No record between 1977 and 2019
  6. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered December 22, 2019 as US 1870, CA 65Source: firetower.org
  7. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Pinyon Peak rises to 5,256 feet in the southeastern end of the Monterey district of the Los Padres National Forest.1 The register warns not to confuse it with the Sid Ormsbee lookout, which sits on a different Pinyon Peak in the northern end of the district.1

The register dates the lookout to 1937 and describes an open steel tower on a 30-foot K-brace.1 A history of the forest's lookouts gives a 36-foot tower with a 14-by-14 cab, built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews.2 The two sources disagree on the height. A Santa Maria newspaper, quoted in the same history, reported in September 1937 that the final loads of steel, timber, cement and glass had been carried up the peak.2

During World War II the Aircraft Warning Service staffed the lookout around the clock, and a cabin was added for living quarters.1,2 The register says it was no longer staffed in the 1960s.1

In 1977 the Marble Cone Fire destroyed the lookout.1,2 The blaze lasted three weeks in August 1977 around Big Sur in Monterey County, and two lightning strikes set it off.3

The register says nothing remains at the site.1 A trip report on Bob Burd's site describes four concrete pillars on the east summit, which the author calls the only remains of a lookout.4 The two accounts disagree. The same report describes a road that switchbacks up the south side of the peak.4

  1. Pinyon Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/pinyon-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Pinyon Peak (US), Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/pinyon-peak-us.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Marble Cone Fire, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Cone_Fire (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Trip report on Bear Mountain and Pinyon Peak, Bob Burd's Trip Reports, https://www.snwburd.com/bob/trip_reports/bear_n8_1.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Pinyon Peak Lookout - 1942
Pinyon Peak Lookout - 1942 (1942)Photo: "Lookouts of the Los Padres Forest" By Irma Oksen Reaves - 1988, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Pinyon Peak Lookout Site, 1988
(1988)Photo: "Lookouts of the Los Padres Forest" By Irma Oksen Reaves - 1988, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Pinyon Peak Lookout Site
Photo: USFS - Craig R. Carey 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, wartime use, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.