FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Sierra County, California

Saddleback Mountain Lookout

Also known as Saddleback Lookout

Tahoe NF CCC lookout near Downieville, built 1934; the register's visit reports disagree on staffing and road access today.

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
Trail
Saddleback Road (county road 509), off Highway 49; about 10 miles of dirt road
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Enclosed towerBC-3 live-in cab, 14 by 14 feet, on a 7-foot BETT towerThe design: BC-301
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,625 ft (2,019 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Tahoe National Forest (Downieville Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Sierra County, California
Coordinates
39.63678, −120.86435
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-saddleback-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 3.7 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 BuiltCCC-built BC-3 cab on a BETT tower; a memorial plaque credits the CCC with erection in 1934Sources: nhlr.org, truckeehistory.org
  2. No record between 1934 and 2004
  3. 2004 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered as US 591, CA 62 on September 21, 2004Source: nhlr.org
  4. 2009 StaffedVisit report calls it a staffed lookout in very good condition; the same report describes the author's early-morning visit and the two-wheel-drive roadSource: nhlr.org
  5. 2010 EventVisit report answered No to the staffing questionSource: nhlr.org
  6. 2015 StaffedVisit report says its author was the main lookout on duty in the 2015 fire season; other reports disagreeSource: nhlr.org
  7. 2019 EventTahoe Donner September 2019 newsletter photo of TD 4Wheelers who recently visited, showing the CCC memorial plaqueSource: truckeehistory.org
  8. 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.

Saddleback Mountain Lookout stands at 6,625 feet in the Tahoe National Forest, about ten miles from Downieville.1,2 The register says the Civilian Conservation Corps built it in 1934: a live-in cab of the Forest Service's BC-3 design on a short, seven-foot "BETT" tower. The register calls it the only such short tower the CCC built on the Tahoe National Forest.1 A Truckee-Donner Historical Society article says a 2019 Tahoe Donner newsletter photo shows a memorial plaque crediting the CCC with the erection in 1934, which agrees with the register.2 The register also notes possible asbestos tiles over the original wood siding.1

The register's visit reports disagree about staffing. A 2009 report calls it a staffed lookout in very good condition. The same report says its author arrived early one morning, found the tower shutters and everything else open, and assumed the lookout was asleep.1 A 2010 report answered "No" to the staffing question.1 A 2015 report, from someone who was the main lookout that fire season, answered "Yes."1

The 2009 report says a two-wheel-drive car could make the trip along about ten miles of dirt road from Saddleback Road (county road 509), off Highway 49, though the last mile is a bit steep.1 A 2015 report said the public is welcome and recommended a 4x4.1

The Tahoe National Forest's cabin page says two of its nine historic lookouts can be rented. It names Sardine Peak and Calpine, not Saddleback.3 A Tahoe Donner newsletter from September 2019 ran a photo of a group of TD 4Wheelers that had recently visited the lookout.2

Whether the public can go up the tower today is not clear from these sources. Because the visit reports conflict on staffing, check with the Downieville Ranger District before any visit.1

  1. Saddleback Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/saddleback-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Fire Lookouts, Truckee-Donner Historical Society (truckeehistory.org), https://www.truckeehistory.org/ccc-and-lookouts.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Tahoe National Forest, Camping and Cabins, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/tahoe/recreation/camping-cabins (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Saddleback Mountain Lookout
Photo: 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, 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, 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.