FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Mesa County, Colorado

Leon Peak Lookout

Log lookout on Leon Peak, Grand Mesa NF, Mesa County, CO; staffed 1911-1915, then abandoned to lightning; log frame stands with cab gone; reached on foot.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Reached on foot from a trailhead near Trickle Park Reservoir; trip reports describe no closure; no Forest Service statement on access was found

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About 5 miles round trip from near Trickle Park Reservoir, leaving the trail for boulders; a 2014 trip report says the frame may not bear a climber's weight
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabLog construction with corrugated sheet metal; built as a 12-foot-square house with a cupolaThe design: Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1911
Height
Unknown
Elevation
11,196 ft (3,413 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Mesa County, Colorado
Coordinates
39.07942, −107.84395
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-co-leon-peak

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 3.6 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. 1911 BuiltNewspapers of August 1911 describe the station as nearing completion; NHLR gives 1912Sources: westlookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  2. 1911 First staffedRanger Clay Wintersteen was to have charge of the station that seasonSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1912 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  4. 1912 StaffedCarl Pfeiffer sent up to take charge in August 1912 (paper dated August 23, 1912)Source: westlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1913 StaffedBen Suchre was at the station in September 1913; a paper reported numerous smokes and no fires in late September 1913Source: westlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1914 StaffedForest Guard Bloss went to the station for the fire-danger seasonSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1915 AbandonedConstant lightning strikes forced abandonment (trip report); NHLR says abandoned after a few yearsSources: nhlr.org, adventr.co
  8. 1915 Last staffedGuards stationed only through the summer of 1915 (trip report)Source: adventr.co
  9. No record between 1915 and 2011
  10. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 11, 2011 as US 919, CO 18; nominated by Kent ArgowSource: nhlr.org
  11. 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.

The Leon Peak Lookout sits on Leon Peak in the Grand Mesa National Forest, in Mesa County, Colorado, at about 11,196 feet.1

The register says the lookout was designed in 1911, before lookout designs had been standardized, and that it is built of logs and corrugated sheet metal.1 Newspapers from August 1911 describe a 12-foot-square house with a cupola, nearing completion on the summit. Ranger Clay Wintersteen put it up and was due to have charge of it that season.2 The register gives 1912 as the build year, while a 2014 trip report says it was built in 1911 or 1912.1,3

Staff were posted there in the early years. Carl Pfeiffer was sent up to take charge in August 1912, and Ben Suchre was at the station in September 1913.2 In late September 1913 a local paper reported numerous smokes from the lookout and no fires.2 In September 1914 Forest Guard Bloss was sent to the station for the fire-danger period.2

A 2014 trip report says guards were stationed there only through the summer of 1915, and that constant lightning strikes forced it out of use.3 The register says the station was dropped after a few years, citing frequent lightning.1

The register says the log frame still stands after a century of severe weather.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the site as standing, and uses an asterisk for a structure whose cab is no longer in place.4

Visitors reach the summit on foot.3,5 One guide gives the hike as five miles round trip from a trailhead near Trickle Park Reservoir.5 Another guide warns that the drive to the trailhead may involve rough roads.6 A trip report describes leaving the trail for a ridge of boulders, and warns that the frame may not bear a climber's weight.3 The sources read say nothing about whether the Forest Service has closed the site or offers it for rent.

  1. Leon Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/co/leon-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Leon Peak, Forest Lookouts (westlookouts.weebly.com), https://westlookouts.weebly.com/leon-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Mesa County High Point: Leon Peak, ADVENTR.co, https://adventr.co/2014/09/leon-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Colorado Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/co/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Five Colorado Fire Lookouts Hikes (And One You Can Rent!), The Next Summit, https://thenextsummit.org/five-colorado-fire-lookouts-hikes/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Hike Leon Peak in Grand Mesa National Forest, Stav is Lost, https://stavislost.com/hikes/trail/leon-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Leon Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Leon Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, 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, 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.