Fire lookout · Plumas County, California
Smith Peak Lookout (Plumas National Forest)
Also known as Smith Peak
1936 Forest Service cabin on an enclosed tower west of Lake Davis; seasonal staffing; visitors welcome when fire operations allow.
- Standing
- Open to the public
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Open to the public. Visitors are welcome when no fire operations are underway; staff may not allow access during lightning events.
- Can you climb it?
- Yes
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- West side of Lake Davis; no source read confirms a road route to the lookout; check conditions with the Plumas National Forest first.
- Staffing
- Staffed during fire season (as of 2020)
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Enclosed towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on an enclosed timber tower (NHLR)The design: BC-301
- Built of
- Wood
- Built
- 1936
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 7,693 ft (2,345 m)
- Agency
- US Forest Service - Plumas National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Plumas County, California
- Coordinates
- 39.86745, −120.53075
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ca-smith-peak-plumas-national-forest
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
- 1936 BuiltCompleted August 1936 per the register; reported in operation in September 1936Sources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1944 StaffedFire guard for the summer seasonSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1946 StaffedReno high school graduate stationed on the peakSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1946 and 1971
- 1971 StaffedRed Dolby began his summer watchSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1971 and 2020
- 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 3, 2020 as US 1420Source: nhlr.org
- 2024 EventFFLA restoration grant of $500 for materials to restore the original 1930s tongue-and-groove Douglas fir floor, which was buried under paint and linoleum.Source: firelookout.org
- 2024 RestoredOriginal wood floor uncovered and restored, finished in September 2024 with a donated sander and generator from a local hardware store.Source: firelookout.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Smith Peak Lookout stands on a summit on the west side of Lake Davis in Plumas County.1,2 A 1955 newspaper item places it about five miles north of Portola.3 In July 1936 a Plumas Independent item, quoted on a lookout history site, reported a worker building a new lookout on the peak for the Forest Service.3 A Feather River Bulletin item from early September 1936 says the new lookout had been completed the week before and was in operation.3 The register gives August 1936 as the completion month and says the lookout is a BC-301 cabin from the California Region 5 plan, set on an enclosed timber tower.1
Summer fire watch followed. A 1944 item says Mrs. Harry Kelley worked the lookout as a fire guard through the summer, and a 1946 item says a Reno high school graduate was stationed on the peak.3 In 1971 Red Dolby climbed up to begin the summer on watch, and a 1975 item still had him manning the lookout.3
The register added the lookout on June 3, 2020, as US 1420, and says it was actively staffed that year.1 The Plumas National Forest administers it.1 A regional recreation article calls it an operational lookout, staffed during fire season, and says visitors are welcome at the lookout.2 It adds that when no fire operations are active, staff generally allow visitors access, and that access may be limited during lightning events.2 Because access depends on fire conditions, check with the Plumas National Forest before you go.
- Smith Peak Lookout (Plumas National Forest), National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/smith-peak-lookout-plumas-national-forest/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Visiting Lake Davis - Plumas National Forest, Sierra REC Magazine, https://sierrarecmagazine.com/article/visiting-lake-davis-plumas-national-forest/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Smith Peak - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/smith-peak1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports (opens another site) Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures (opens another site) Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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
- NHLR register entry US 1420 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Visiting Lake Davis - Plumas National Forest (Sierra REC Magazine) (opens another site)
- FFLA California lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports: work on Smith Peak Lookout (Plumas National Forest) (opens another site)
- Smith Peak Lookout - Forest Lookouts Page (opens another site)
- Smith Peak on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap node 4391442221 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.