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Fire lookout · Plumas County, California

Spanish Peak Lookout Site

Plumas NF summit lookout in the Bucks Lake Wilderness; cabins from before 1920 to 1973, buildings offered for sale in 1973, and a 2012 trip report found only concrete and cable left.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Buildings offered for sale in 1973 on condition they be removed; a 2012 trip report found only concrete and cable

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. In the Bucks Lake Wilderness; a 2012 trip report describes a spur off the Pacific Crest Trail. No current access rule found in the sources read.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
A wooden sign marks the spur to the summit, and the 2012 trip report calls the walk easy. No source read describes conditions after 2012.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabGround cabin before 1920; BC-201 Fireman-Lookout cabin built in 1934 to replace the older buildingThe design: BC-201
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1913
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,285 ft (2,221 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Plumas National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Plumas County, California
Coordinates
39.93449, −121.12640
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-spanish-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1907 EventRegister: the summit had been a lookout site since 1907Source: firetower.org
  2. 1913 BuiltPlumas history as quoted by a 2012 trip report; the register does not give 1913Source: valhikes.blogspot.com
  3. 1914 StaffedWm. Konradi presiding; he reported another eruption of Mount LassenSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1920 StaffedL.C. Chase stationed on the peak during the summer monthsSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1922 RebuiltPlumas history as quoted by a 2012 trip reportSource: valhikes.blogspot.com
  6. 1930 StaffedClarence Woolsey named as the 1930 season lookoutSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1933 AlteredPlumas history as quoted by a 2012 trip reportSource: valhikes.blogspot.com
  8. 1934 Built'Built' field on FFLOS detail pageSource: FFLOS register entry
  9. 1934 Replaced by a new structureBC-201 Fireman-Lookout cabin replaced the older building; slightly southeast of itSource: firetower.org
  10. 1943 StaffedEunice M. Olsen assigned to the peakSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1947 StaffedAdele Demes stationed thereSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  12. No record between 1947 and 1963
  13. 1963 StaffedMrs. Jean Rippey spent the summer as lookoutSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  14. 1966 ClosedPlumas history: Doris Rippy the last lookout; station closed December 2, 1966. Disputed by the 1971 budget warning.Source: valhikes.blogspot.com
  15. 1971 EventBudget cuts raised the possibility of discontinuing the lookout for the coming seasonSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  16. 1973 RemovedForest Service sale notice (October 18, 1973) requires removal of buildings above ground level; register says structures removed circa 1973Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  17. No record between 1973 and 2019
  18. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: December 21, 2019Source: FFLOS register entry
  19. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

Spanish Peak sits in the Bucks Lake Wilderness in Plumas County, on land the Plumas National Forest administers.1,2 The register says a lookout had been on the summit since 1907, and that a ground cabin stood there before 1920.1 In 1934 a BC-201 cabin replaced the older building.1 The new cabin was set slightly southeast of it, and the old one stayed up for a while.1

A Plumas history quoted in a 2012 trip report gives a different sequence: built in 1913, rebuilt in 1922 and modified in 1933.2 The register and that history do not agree, so both versions are shown here.1,2

Newspapers name a run of summer lookouts.3 Wm. Konradi was on duty in 1914, when he reported another eruption of Mount Lassen.3 L.C. Chase was stationed on the peak in 1920, and a 1924 paper said he had held the post for seven years.3 Clarence Woolsey needed pack horses to reach his post in 1930, and a 1932 item calls Jack Woolsey a longtime lookout there before he moved to Pilot Peak.3 Eunice M. Olsen was assigned to the peak in 1943, Adele Demes was stationed there in 1947, and Mrs. Jean Rippey spent the summer of 1963 on duty.3

The closing date is disputed. The Plumas history names Doris Rippy as the last lookout and says the station closed on December 2, 1966.2 A 1971 paper warned that budget cuts could shut the lookout down, at least for the next season, which does not fit that date.3 In October 1973 the Forest Service offered the buildings for sale, on the condition that everything above ground level be removed from the site.3 The register says the structures were removed around 1973.1

The 2012 trip report says only some concrete and cable remained, on a small steep hill before a cliff.2 The same report says a wooden sign marks the spur to the peak, and that the walk up it is easy.2 We found no source that describes the site after 2012.

  1. Spanish Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/spanish-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Spanish Peak, valhikes (2012 trip report), https://valhikes.blogspot.com/2012/08/spanish-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Spanish Peak, Forest Lookouts (Ron Kemnow), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/spanish-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Spanish Peak Lookout
Spanish Peak LookoutPhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1920
1920 (1920)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo shows newer BC-201 and older building in the background
Photo shows newer BC-201 and older building in the backgroundPhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1947
1947 (1947)Photo: Nevada State Journal, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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) 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, status, agency, access, 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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