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Fire lookout · Archuleta County, Colorado

Chimney Rock Lookout Site

San Juan NF lookout in Archuleta County, CO, built by the CCC in 1939 on a stone base; cab removed in 2010, and the site is now in a national monument.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed in fall 2010; register says most of the floor was left in place. No source describes the site after 2010.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Chimney Rock Archaeological Area has guided walking tours May 15 to Sept. 30; sources do not say whether the lookout remains are on the tour route. The register says the site was closed to the public after the falcon listing, with no date given.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Two-story buildingone-story stone base topped with a 14'x14' wooden cab with gable roof and catwalk; stone taken from adjacent prehistoric buildingsThe design: Chimney Rock plan
Built of
Stone
Built
1939
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,903 ft (2,409 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (San Juan National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Archuleta County, Colorado
Coordinates
37.19440, −107.30120
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-co-chimney-rock

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 3.3 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. 1939 BuiltBuilt by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a one-story stone base with a 14x14-foot wooden cab; stone from adjacent prehistoric buildingsSource: firetower.org
  2. 1942 EventItem quoted on a lookout-history site describes a new lookout station built near the historic Chimney Rock; does not match the register's 1939 dateSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1942 and 1959
  4. 1959 AbandonedRegister: abandoned in 1959Source: firetower.org
  5. 1970 RemovedRegister says the cab was removed 'in the 1970s'; only the decade is given, so the year here stands for the decadeSource: firetower.org
  6. No record between 1970 and 1987
  7. 1987 RebuiltCab rebuilt in 1987 for observation of the archaeological ruinsSource: firetower.org
  8. No record between 1987 and 2010
  9. 2010 RemovedCab removed in the fall of 2010 by the USFS for archaeological investigation; most of the floor left in placeSource: firetower.org
  10. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered July 15, 2011 as FFLOS US 1085, CO 16; nominated by Kent ArgowSource: firetower.org
  11. 2012 EventChimney Rock Archaeological Area designated a national monument on Sept. 21, 2012Source: fs.usda.gov
  12. 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.

Chimney Rock Lookout stood in what is now the Chimney Rock Archaeological Area, on the San Juan National Forest in Archuleta County, Colorado.1,2 The Civilian Conservation Corps put it up in 1939, with a one-story stone base and a cab made of wood on top.1 Its stone came from prehistoric buildings right beside it, and the lookout was raised over a fire pit that is 1,000 years old.1 A 1942 item, quoted on a lookout-history site, reports that a fresh lookout station had gone up close to the historic Chimney Rock, which does not fit the register's 1939 date.3

The register says the lookout was abandoned in 1959.1 The cab came off in the 1970s and was rebuilt in 1987 so people could look over the archaeological ruins.1 The Forest Service took the cab down in the fall of 2010 for archaeological investigation, and most of the floor was left where it stood to guard the deposits below.1 A column put up in the 1970s for a circular viewing deck still appeared in a 2010 photo.1 The deck plan was dropped once peregrine falcons were listed as endangered, and the register says public access ended at the same time.1 The Association's Colorado list marks the structure as removed.4

The Forest Service says the Chimney Rock Archaeological Area was made a national monument on September 21, 2012, when President Barack Obama designated it.2 Guided walking tours are offered every day from May 15 through September 30, and the visitor center cabin is open during the same season.2 The sources do not say whether the lookout remains lie on the tour route. The register's account of the site's physical history stops at the 2010 cab removal, and no source describes what the site looks like now.1

  1. Chimney Rock Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/co/chimney-rock-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Chimney Rock National Monument, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/national-monuments/chimney-rock-national-monument (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Chimney Rock - Forest Lookouts (newspaper items transcribed), https://westlookouts.weebly.com/chimney-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Colorado Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/co/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Chimney Rock Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1942
1942 (1942)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1972
1972 (1972)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2003
2003 (2003)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2010 after demolition of cab
2010 after demolition of cab (2010)Photo: 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, 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) 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, status, agency, access, 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.