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Fire lookout · Riverside County, California

Vista Grande Lookout Site

Riverside County, CA lookout built for the Cleveland National Forest in 1914; exact site and removal date unknown; no source describes what remains.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register gives the removal date and the exact site as unknown; no source found that describes what remains

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
Type
Cab on a towerCabin on a short open timber tower; register says it appears to be a modified California Plan 4A or an original DuBois 12x12 designThe design: Plan 4-A
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1914
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,892 ft (1,491 m)
Agency
US Forest Service, San Bernardino National Forest (San Jacinto Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Riverside County, California
Coordinates
33.83569, −116.81138
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-vista-grande

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 3.1 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. 1914 BuiltBuilt for the Cleveland National ForestSource: firetower.org
  2. 1926 EventSan Jacinto Ranger District transferred to the San Bernardino National ForestSource: firetower.org
  3. No record between 1926 and 2019
  4. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on December 1, 2019Source: firetower.org
  5. 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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Vista Grande Lookout went up in 1914 for the Cleveland National Forest.1 The register suggests a modified California Plan 4A cabin, or perhaps an original DuBois 12-by-12, on a low, open timber tower.1 In 1926 the San Jacinto Ranger District passed to the San Bernardino National Forest.1

The register does not know exactly where the lookout stood.1 It puts the spot near the Vista Grande Fire Station, a little to the northwest, and says the later Ranger Peak lookout was not built there.1 It also gives no removal date, and it notes that later lookouts went up at Ranger Peak, Barton Peak and Black Mountain.1

The Forest Service's history of its Vista Grande Hotshots says the name dates to the 1930s, when the spot was a California Conservation Corps camp.2 The place sits near the small mountain community of Idyllwild.2 In 1974 a second Hotshot crew was added, and the Vista Grande Guard Station was chosen as its location.2 No source we read says what, if anything, remains of the lookout, or whether the spot is open to visitors.1,2

  1. Vista Grande Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/vista-grande-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Vista Grande Hotshots History, Forest Service, San Bernardino National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/sanbernardino/fire/resources/vista-grande-hotshots-history (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Vista Grande Lookout - Circa 1920's
Vista Grande Lookout - Circa 1920's (1920)Photo: Cleveland National Forest, 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, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.