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Fire lookout · Santa Barbara County, California

Santa Ynez Peak Lookout Site

Also known as Santa Ynez

Los Padres NF lookout built 1934 on Santa Ynez Peak, a 30 ft steel tower later removed on an unknown date; the site is now dominated by communications arrays.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed on a date the register does not give; Carey's 2013 post describes the site as dominated by communications arrays

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
Trail
Peakbagging includes a driving route description to the site; no source read says whether visitors may go up today

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin (register; Carey calls it a classic C3 cab) atop a 30 ft K-brace open steel towerThe designs: C-3, BC-301
Built of
Steel
Built
1934
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
4,300 ft (1,311 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Los Padres National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Santa Barbara County, California
Coordinates
34.52704, −119.97858
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-santa-ynez-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 its recorded height.

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. 1934 BuiltRegister photo caption says 'Constructed 1934'; Carey says lookouts were set on Los Padres points in 1934. Peakbagging gives 1935.Sources: firetower.org, craigrcarey.net
  2. No record between 1934 and 1955
  3. 1955 FireRefugio Fire began early on September 6, 1955 near Refugio Pass; the lookout was notified through the Cachuma station, and the Independent says the relay cost valuable minutesSource: independent.com
  4. 1955 StaffedForest Service lookout Ethel Wheeler was watching over Santa Ynez Peak, per an August 4, 1955 newspaper itemSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1955 and 2019
  6. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 20, 2019 as US 1863, CA 58Source: firetower.org
  7. 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.

Santa Ynez Peak stands about 4,300 feet high in the Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County.1 A lookout went up there in 1934.1,2 Peakbagging dates the tower to 1935, so the sources differ by a year.3 The cabin sat on an open steel tower, 30 feet tall and K-braced.1,2 The register calls the cab a California Region 5 Plan BC-301 design, while Carey calls it a classic C3 cab.1,2

A Forest Service lookout, Ethel Wheeler, was watching over the peak in August 1955, according to a newspaper item.4 The Refugio Fire started in the early hours of September 6, 1955, close to the top of Refugio Pass.5 The Santa Ynez lookout heard about it through the Cachuma station, which then alerted the Los Prietos ranger station.5 The Santa Barbara Independent's history of the fire says the notification delay cost precious minutes.5

The tower is gone.1,2 The register gives no removal date, and Peakbagging's author also does not know when it came down.1,3

Carey's 2013 post says communications arrays now mostly occupy the site.2 Peakbagging includes directions for driving to the site, but none of the sources read says whether visitors may go up today.3

  1. Santa Ynez Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/santa-ynez-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Lookout! No. 13 Santa Ynez Peak, Craig R. Carey, http://www.craigrcarey.net/2013/08/lookout-no-13-santa-ynez-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Santa Ynez (LO site), Santa Barbara County, California, Peakbagging, http://peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/SantaYnez.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Santa Ynez, Forest Lookouts (California), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/santa-ynez.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Refugio Fire September 6-15, 1955, Santa Barbara Independent, https://www.independent.com/2009/09/19/refugio-fire-september-6-15-1955/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Santa Ynez Peak Lookout - Constructed 1934
Santa Ynez Peak Lookout - Constructed 1934 (1934)Photo: Los Padres National Forest Archive, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Location of removed tower
Location of removed towerPhoto: Craig R. Carey, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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. 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, height, status, 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

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