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Fire lookout · Nevada County, California

Wolf Mountain Lookout

Nevada County lookout near Grass Valley: 1921 tree-platform start, 1947 timber tower, 2013 vandal closure, 2015 volunteer reopening; NHLR-registered 2019.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towercurrent 108-foot treated timber L-4 tower with 7x7-foot cab; NHLR also describes a steel-tower account dated 1981The designs: L-4, CDF 732-6A sources disagree
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1921
Height
108 ft (32.9 m)
Elevation
2,677 ft (816 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit (Cal Fire NEU)
Land
Unknown
Location
Nevada County, California
Coordinates
39.13326, −121.10011
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-wolf-mountain

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

  1. 1921 BuiltFirst lookout: crow's nest tree platform about half a mile southwest of the present towerSource: nhlr.org
  2. 1926 Built50-foot wooden tower and cabin, about half a mile southwest of the present towerSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1926 and 1947
  4. 1947 BuiltCurrent 108-foot treated timber L-4 tower; materials bought in 1942, stored at Derr Guard Station until 1947, when enough manpower was available to build itSource: nhlr.org
  5. 1950 EventCombined fire observation and Ground Observer Corps station in the 1950s (decade start used as year)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1950 and 1981
  7. 1981 BuiltNHLR's alternate build date for a steel tower made from surplus test towers; conflicts with the 1947 timber towerSource: nhlr.org
  8. No record between 1981 and 2013
  9. 2013 ClosedVandals broke into the tower in early July 2013; damage put the lookout out of serviceSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  10. 2015 RestoredRepaired after a $27,000 PG&E donation and reopened in May 2015 for volunteer fire-season staffingSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com, calfire.blogspot.com
  11. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 24, 2019 as US 1335, CA 158; nominated by Brad EellsSource: nhlr.org
  12. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Wolf Mountain Lookout stands near Grass Valley in Nevada County, California, and the Cal Fire Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit administers it.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register says the site began in 1921 with a crow's nest, a platform built in a tree about half a mile southwest of the present tower.1 A 50-foot wooden tower and cabin went up nearby in 1926.1

The register dates the current 108-foot timber tower to 1947, when enough crew was free to build it.1 Its materials were bought in 1942 and stored at Derr Guard Station until then.1 The register also says the tower is one of the steel towers made from surplus "atomic bomb testing towers," and it gives 1981 as a construction date.1 That account does not fit the timber tower described in the same entry, and the sources read do not say which one describes the tower standing today.1

In the 1950s the lookout served as a combined fire observation and Ground Observer Corps station.3 The register says it is staffed every summer by volunteers in the Cal Fire Volunteers in the Fire Protection program.1 A May 2015 post from California Fire News asked people to man the tower from June through October.2

A newspaper report dated July 2, 2013 said vandals had cut through the fence and broken into the tower over the weekend before. They broke the door and windows, and the damage put the lookout out of service.3 A $27,000 donation from Pacific Gas and Electric helped Cal Fire repair the tower and put it back into operation.1 In May 2015 the towers, including Wolf Mountain, were set to reopen. A news report quoted by the Forest Lookouts site said persistent vandalism had kept them shut for the two fire seasons before.3

The sources read do not say whether the public can visit or climb the tower today, and the register's staffing line is undated.1 The California Fire News post tells would-be volunteers to call CAL FIRE.2

  1. Wolf Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/wolf-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Wolf Mountain lookout volunteer call, California Fire News blog, May 2015, https://calfire.blogspot.com/2015/05/volunteers-are-needed-to-man-restored.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Wolf Mountain, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/wolf-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Wolf Mountain Lookout 2009
Wolf Mountain Lookout 2009 (2009)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2004
2004 (2004)Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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 what kind of structure it is.

    • FFLA: Cab on a tower
    • NHLR: Lookout tree

    Sources disagree on whether a tower or building stood here, or only a camp or lookout tree.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, 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
  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) 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
  4. 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.