Fire lookout · Plumas County, California
Thompson Peak Lookout
1931-32 two-story lookout above Janesville in Plumas NF, with a Cold War radar annex below it; seasonally staffed and reached by a 4WD road.
- 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. Reached by a seasonal four-wheel-drive road; the lookout and access road were closed for construction in August and September 2016.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Yes, you can drive up
- Trail
- Seasonal 4WD road, NFS Road 28N02A, on the mountain's southeast slopes; check road conditions first.
- Staffing
- Staffed during fire season (as of 2012)
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Enclosed towerTwo-story summit lookout (completed 1932 per Summit Post); the register calls it an R1 design, a Region 1 revision of the California Region 4ARThe design: D-5 (4-AR)
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- 1931
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 7,777 ft (2,370 m)
- Agency
- US Forest Service - Plumas National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Plumas County, California
- Coordinates
- 40.26096, −120.55764
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ca-thompson-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
- 1931 BuiltConstruction began 1931; register says opened June 1931; Summit Post says completed 1932Sources: nhlr.org, summitpost.org
- 1931 First staffedHarry Foster at the lookout station by September 1931Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1933 FireLogging-truck fire south of the peak burned nearly 600 acres; lookout reported itSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1945 StaffedOne of the forest's 19 lookouts stayed open in October 1945 to watch the Honey Lake slopeSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1945 and 1960
- 1960 EventAir Force gap-filler radar annex on the summit fully functional; operated until 1967 (Summit Post)Source: summitpost.org
- No record between 1960 and 1991
- 1991 EventReported vandalized in June 1991; damage not estimatedSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1991 and 2016
- 2016 ClosedLookout and access road closed August 3 to September 30 for construction; fire watch coverage not expected to be affectedSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 26, 2019 as US 1340Source: nhlr.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.
Thompson Peak Lookout stands on a summit above the town of Janesville in Plumas County, with views over Honey Lake Valley.1,2 The register says it was constructed and opened in June 1931.1 A Summit Post write-up says the Civilian Conservation Corps began the work in 1931 and that the two-story lookout was completed in 1932.2 A July 1931 newspaper item says wind at the summit gave the carpenters trouble and that the station needed heavy cables to stay in place.3
The register places the design in the R1 class, a Region 1 modification of a California Region 4AR plan.1 Harry Foster was at the lookout station by September 1931.3 In October 1945 the forest ended operations at all but one of its 19 lookouts, and Thompson Peak was the one still watching the Honey Lake slope.3
In August 1933 a fire that began beneath a logging truck burned close to 600 acres south of the peak. The lookout reported it, and two hundred men from a CCC camp were called in to fight it.3
After World War II the Air Force identified the summit as a site for a gap-filler radar.2 Summit Post says a 1958 land agreement preceded construction, that the radar was working by 1960 and ran until 1967, and that the land returned to the Forest Service in 1969.2 The register gives 1958 to 1970 for the radar facility, while a Peakbagging caption gives 1960 to 1967, so the end date is disputed.1,4 An abandoned building from that era still sits below the lookout.4
In June 1991 the Forest Service reported that the lookout tower had been vandalized, and no damage estimate was available.3 In August and September 2016 the lookout and its access road were closed for construction, and fire watch coverage was not expected to be affected.3 The register added the lookout on October 26, 2019, as US 1340.1
Today the Plumas National Forest manages the lookout.1 Summit Post says it was seasonally staffed as of 2012, and Peakbagging says it is usually staffed during fire season.2,4 A seasonal four-wheel-drive road, NFS Road 28N02A, climbs the mountain's southeast slopes.2 No source consulted confirms staffing or road conditions after 2012, so check with the Plumas National Forest before you go.
- Thompson Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/thompson-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Thompson Peak (Diamond Mountains), Summit Post, https://www.summitpost.org/thompson-peak-diamond-mountains/794813 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Thompson Peak - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/thompson-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Thompson Peak Lookout, California, Peakbagging, http://peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/ThompsonPk.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) 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
- 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
- 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) 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 1340 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Thompson Peak (Diamond Mountains) (Summit Post) (opens another site)
- Thompson Peak Lookout, California (Peakbagging) (opens another site)
- FFLA California lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Thompson Peak Lookout - Forest Lookouts Page (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap node 6742514405 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.