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Fire lookout · Humboldt County, California

Schoolhouse Peak Lookout

Humboldt County lookout on the Bald Hills ridge in Redwood National and State Parks; built 1940 by the CCC per the register, cab remodeled by CDF, staffed in 2020.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. The register calls it an interpretive site for national park visitors. Current hours and whether the cab is open were not confirmed.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Reached by road up Bald Hills Road; a 2020 visitor walked the final stretch of loose gravel to the summit.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2020)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Enclosed towerL-601 tower; original BC-301 cab replaced by a 732-6A design (remodel plan 962-2A)The designs: BC-301, CDF 732-6A
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1940
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
3,097 ft (944 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection - Humboldt-Del Norte Unit (Cal Fire HHU)
Land
Unknown
Location
Humboldt County, California
Coordinates
41.15143, −123.88300
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-schoolhouse-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 3.5 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. 1940 BuiltRegister: L-601 tower erected by the CCCsSource: nhlr.org
  2. 1941 EventNorth Coast Journal gives 1941 as the construction date; the register gives 1940Source: northcoastjournal.com
  3. No record between 1941 and 1965
  4. 1965 EventLookout broken into during a flood; food, tools and a lantern reported missingSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1976 EventRegister build field lists 1940/1976; the register text does not say what happened in 1976Source: nhlr.org
  6. No record between 1976 and 2019
  7. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 19, 2019 as US 1318, CA 141; nominated by Brad EellsSource: nhlr.org
  8. 2020 StaffedA man stationed at the lookout during the 2020 fire season, per a visitor's accountSource: northcoastjournal.com
  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.

The Schoolhouse Peak lookout stands on the Bald Hills ridge in Humboldt County, in what is now Redwood National and State Parks.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register says the Civilian Conservation Corps erected its L-601 tower in 1940.1 A North Coast Journal writer who visited in 2020 gives 1941 as the construction date.3 A federal survey description written in 1942 calls the building a wooden structure about 30 feet high, and says it was still being completed when a 1941 survey station was occupied.2 The dates do not agree, and the sources we read do not settle which is right.

The register says the original cab, plan BC-301, was replaced by CDF with a 732-6A design, under a remodel plan numbered 962-2A.1 It adds that the cab change and other modifications have seriously diminished the structure's historic integrity.1 The register also gives 1976 alongside 1940 as build dates, but it does not say what happened that year.1

The writer who visited in 2020 says the building has since been modernized from its wooden original and now has tall metal walls below an enclosed tower.3 The same account describes a man stationed at the lookout during that year's fire season, who told the writer the fires were merging and stood at 2,700 acres.3

Forest Lookouts quotes a January 1965 report that the lookout had been broken into during a flood. Some food, a few tools and a lantern were reported missing.2

Today the register lists the lookout as an interpretive stop for national park visitors.1 The 2020 writer rode a road bike up Bald Hills Road and walked the last stretch of loose gravel to the summit.3 We found no source that says whether the cab is open or what hours apply, so check with Redwood National and State Parks before going up.

  1. Schoolhouse Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/schoolhouse-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Schoolhouse Peak, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/schoolhouse-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Sea to Summit: Schoolhouse Peak, North Coast Journal, https://www.northcoastjournal.com/life-outdoors/sea-to-summit-schoolhouse-peak-22153304/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Schoolhouse Peak Lookout
Schoolhouse Peak LookoutPhoto: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Schoolhouse Peak Lookout 1997
Schoolhouse Peak Lookout 1997 (1997)Photo: Mark Swift Collection, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Schoolhouse Peak Lookout
Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Schoolhouse Peak Lookout
Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, 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: height, 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, height, 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.