Fire lookout · Morris County, New Jersey
Budd Lake Fire Tower
Also known as Budd Lake (95 Mile Tree), 95 Mile Lookout Tower, Ninety Five Mile Tree Lookout Tower
Morris County tower built 1924 near Budd Lake, the state's only lookout with an Osborne fire finder; still active, seasonally staffed, top cab locked.
- Standing
- Restricted access
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Restricted access
Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Top cabin locked and a No Trespassing sign posted at the base, per a 2025 hiking guide. The guide says the sign is not enforced and that visitors can climb most of the way up. Active state fire tower.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- No, you have to hike
- Trail
- Park at the end of the road and walk a short fire road to the base, per the 2023 NHLR visit report. The 2025 guide says visitors can climb most of the way up; the top cabin is locked.
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower60-ft steel Aermotor tower with 7'x7' metal cab; carries an Osborne fire finderThe design: Aermotor
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- 1924
- Height
- 59 ft (18.0 m)
- Elevation
- 1,182 ft (360 m)
- Agency
- New Jersey Forest Fire Service
- Land
- State land
- Location
- Morris County, New Jersey
- Coordinates
- 40.89507, −74.75043
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-nj-budd-lake
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 3.4 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
- 1905 EventSite known as the 95 Mile Tree Lookout, for its place on the old state turnpike; the register does not say a tower stood there thenSource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1905 and 1924
- 1924 BuiltCurrent 60-ft steel Aermotor tower; a May 1924 notice announced a sixty-foot steel tower on Turkey Hill near WaterlooSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1924 and 1997
- 1997 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 15, 1997 as US 246, NJ 8Source: nhlr.org
- No record between 1997 and 2023
- 2023 RestoredSteel work and a new paint job; repainted April 2023 per the visit reportSource: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The register places Budd Lake Fire Tower on the west shore of Budd Lake in Morris County, New Jersey.1 It says the site was called the "95 Mile Tree Lookout" as early as 1905, for its location at mile 95 of the old state turnpike.1
The current tower dates to 1924.1 A May 1924 newspaper notice said the state Department of Conservation and Development would erect a sixty-foot steel lookout with telephone service on Turkey Hill, near Waterloo.2
A 1925 clipping describes a lookout at the "Turkey Hill fire tower" on Waterloo Mountain.2 That does not match the register's west-shore location, and the sources do not show whether the tower moved or the clipping means a different structure.2,1
The register describes a 60-foot Aermotor steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab, and says no other lookout in the state has an Osborne fire finder.1 The New Jersey Forest Fire Service staffs it seasonally, according to a 2023 visit report.1 The same report noted recent steel work and a new paint job, and the register also dates a repainting to April 2023.1
A June 2025 hiking guide places the tower in Allamuchy Mountain State Park and counts it among 21 New Jersey towers still used for fire detection.3 It says the top cabin is locked, but that visitors can climb most of the way up with no fence in the way.3 Its author believes the "No Trespassing" sign at the base of New Jersey fire towers is not enforced.3 The walk from the parking area is short.3 Because the register lists it as active, ask the Forest Fire Service before climbing.1
- Budd Lake Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nj/budd-lake-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Budd Lake - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/budd-lake.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- 95-Mile Views at the Budd Lake Fire Tower, Explore North Jersey, https://explorenorthjersey.com/95-mile-views-at-the-budd-lake-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
.jpg)
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
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, status, 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
- Wikipedia: List of New Jersey Forest Fire Service fire towers (opens another site) Gave us: height, ownership, photos, links Wikipedia (NJFFS fire tower list) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikipedia). Facts only (register numbers, elevation, height, division, coordinates); article prose/notes not reproduced. Photos are Wikimedia Commons files, each with its own licence on its file page. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site) Gave us: links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures (opens another site) Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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
- NHLR register entry US 246 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- 95-Mile Views at the Budd Lake Fire Tower (Explore North Jersey) (opens another site)
- Budd Lake Station (Wikipedia (List of New Jersey Forest Fire Service fire towers)) (opens another site)
- Budd Lake (95 Mile Tree) (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap node 357735674 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.