FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Glenn County, California

Valley View Lookout Site

Mendocino lookout in Glenn County built 1935 as a Plan BC-301 cabin on a 14-foot tower; register says only the foundation remains and it is listed as gone.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register says the removal date is unknown and only the foundation remains; the FFLA list marks the site gone

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.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Enclosed towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 14 foot enclosed timber towerThe design: BC-301
Built of
Wood
Built
1935
Height
14 ft (4.3 m)
Elevation
5,070 ft (1,545 m)
Agency
US Forest Service, Mendocino National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Glenn County, California
Coordinates
39.77137, −122.68434
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-valley-view

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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.6 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. 1935 BuiltFFLOS Built field gives 1935; the register describes a Plan BC-301 cabin on a 14-foot enclosed timber towerSource: firetower.org
  2. No record between 1935 and 1968
  3. 1968 EventA register photo captioned 1968 (credit: Upper Lake Ranger District Collection)Source: firetower.org
  4. No record between 1968 and 2020
  5. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered with FFLOS on January 29, 2020 as US 1897, CA 92Source: firetower.org
  6. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Valley View Lookout stands in Glenn County, in the Mendocino National Forest, at 1,545 meters.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says the lookout was built in 1935 as a California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 14-foot enclosed timber tower.1 A photograph on the register page is captioned 1968 and credited to the Upper Lake Ranger District collection.1 The register added the site in January 2020 as US 1897, CA 92.1

The register gives the removal date as unknown.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's California list marks the site as gone.2

The register says just the foundation is left today.1 An OpenStreetMap point named Valley View Lookout carries a fire lookout tag, but the tag does not describe what stands there.3 We found no source that says whether the public may visit the site.

  1. Valley View Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/valley-view-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. California Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ca/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Node 12063856748: Valley View Lookout, OpenStreetMap, https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/12063856748 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Valley View Lookout - 1968
Valley View Lookout - 1968 (1968)Photo: Upper Lake Ranger District Collection, 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • OpenStreetMap: Standing

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. 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: 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, 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.