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Fire lookout · Trinity County, California

Plummer Peak Lookout

Trinity County lookout, California Region 5 Plan BC-301 on a steel tower, built 1937 on Shasta-Trinity NF; operator Bill Duncan 1940-41; register lists a 20 ft tower, a 1961 survey says 32 ft.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

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

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 on a 20 foot steel towerThe design: BC-301
Built of
Steel
Built
1937
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,408 ft (1,344 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Shasta-Trinity National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Trinity County, California
Coordinates
40.49299, −123.19997
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-plummer-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 3.2 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 BuiltRegister: BC-301 on a 20 foot steel towerSource: nhlr.org
  2. 1940 StaffedBill Duncan on the summit; kept a cow for fresh milk. June 28, 1940 Trinity Forest News item says he claims the record for the first cow milked on the summitSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1941 StaffedNovember 7, 1941 item: Duncan had been on Plummer and Dubakella for 32 yearsSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1941 and 1961
  5. 1961 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey station description: lookout house on a 4-legged steel tower, 32 feet highSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1961 and 2019
  7. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 29, 2019Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2022 EventApril 12, 2022 decision approving an AlertWildfire camera on an existing American Tower Corporation tower at the Plummer Peak communication siteSource: fs.usda.gov
  9. 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.

Plummer Peak Lookout dates to 1937.1 The National Historic Lookout Register describes it as a Region 5 BC-301 plan lookout on a 20-foot steel tower.1 A 1961 station description of the summit gives the tower as 32 feet high, so the sources disagree on its height.1,2

Bill Duncan is the operator the sources name.1,2 In 1940 he kept a cow on the peak, for fresh milk.1 A June 28, 1940 Trinity Forest News item, quoted on the Forest Lookouts site, reports that Duncan claims the record for the first cow ever milked on top of Plummer Peak.2

A November 7, 1941 item said Duncan had been on Plummer and nearby Dubakella Mountain for 32 years.2 That would reach back before the 1937 tower, and the sources do not say whether an earlier lookout stood on the summit.2

The register lists the Shasta-Trinity National Forest as administering agency. It was registered on October 29, 2019.1

On April 12, 2022 the Forest Service signed a decision approving an AlertWildfire camera at the Plummer Peak communication site south of Hayfork.3 The decision places the camera on an existing American Tower Corporation tower there.3

I could not confirm from the sources I read whether the lookout still stands or whether visitors can reach it.1,3

  1. Plummer Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/plummer-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Plummer Peak, Forest Lookouts California, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/plummer-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Plummer Peak Wildfire Detection Camera, US Forest Service, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/shasta-trinity/projects/61573 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Plummer Peak Lookout - 2005
Plummer Peak Lookout - 2005 (2005)Photo: www.peakbagging.com, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Plummer Peak Lookout
Photo: www.peakbagging.com, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2009
2009 (2009)Photo: Ron Kemnow, 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.

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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, 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

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