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Fire lookout · Monterey County, California

Three Peaks Lookout Site

Los Padres lookout in Monterey County: CCC-built in 1934, staffed until 1958, torn down after the land went to the Army; remnants reported on the south summit.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Discontinued in 1958; land traded to the Army and the structure torn down later. A hiker's undated trip report found remnants on the south summit.

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. Register says the land was traded to the US Army but still lists the Forest Service as administrator; no current access rule found in the sources

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
The old road to the south summit is badly overgrown but has a serviceable use trail

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Enclosed towerTen-foot enclosed timber tower with a 14x14 cab, California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabinThe design: BC-301
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,330 ft (1,015 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Los Padres National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Monterey County, California
Coordinates
35.84800, −121.30538
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-three-peaks

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 3.2 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 BuiltConstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps for the US Forest ServiceSources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 EventRadio receiving sets installed at the station, July 1934Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1958
  4. 1958 Removed'Removed' field on FFLOS detail page: "After 1958".Source: FFLOS register entry
  5. 1958 Last staffedDiscontinued due to lack of funds; register says not staffed after 1958Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1958 and 2019
  7. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 22, 2019Source: firetower.org
  8. 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.

The Three Peaks lookout stood in the Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County, California.1 The Civilian Conservation Corps built it in 1934 for the U.S. Forest Service, and it had a 14x14 cab on a ten-foot enclosed tower.1,2

Radio receiving sets were installed at the station by July 1934.2 During World War II the Aircraft Warning Service manned the lookout, and the site gained more facilities.2 According to the register, the lookout overlooked the Fort Hunter-Liggett practice range, and many fires linked to artillery were reported.1

Lack of money led to the lookout being discontinued in 1958.2 The Army and the Forest Service then swapped land.2 The Army showed no interest in the lookout. Vandalism and weather wore it down until the structure was torn down.2 The register says it was not staffed after 1958, that the land went to the Army, and that the Army removed the structure some time later.1

No source we read says the lookout still stands. A hiker's undated trip report describes the south summit, where the lookout once stood, and says remnants remain: sawed-off telephone poles, wooden posts, some metal scraps and small areas of poured concrete.3 The register lists the Forest Service as administrator, but the land was traded to the Army.1 We found no current access rule, so check with both agencies before going near the site.

  1. Three Peaks Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/three-peaks-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Three Peaks, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/three-peaks.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Three Peaks / Lion Peak, Bob Burd's Trip Reports, https://www.snwburd.com/bob/trip_reports/alder_1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Three Peaks Lookout - 1943
Three Peaks Lookout - 1943 (1943)Photo: "Lookouts of the Los Padres Forest" By Irma Oksen Reaves - 1988, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Reaves family during a visit to Three Peaks Lookout
Reaves family during a visit to Three Peaks Lookout (1988)Photo: "Lookouts of the Los Padres Forest" By Irma Oksen Reaves - 1988, 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) 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.