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Fire lookout · Los Alamos County, New Mexico

Bandelier Lookout

Bandelier Lookout: CCC-built 1940-41 NPS two-story wood cab on stone basement, in use to at least 2016, listed standing, NHLR-registered 2022.

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
Two-story buildingTwo-story wood cab on a stone basement, NPS standardized lookout drawing PG-3040The design: National Park Service lookout
Built of
Wood
Built
1940
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,536 ft (1,992 m)
Agency
National Park Service - Bandelier National Monument
Land
Federal land
Location
Los Alamos County, New Mexico
Coordinates
35.77952, −106.26592
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-bandelier

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 3.2 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. 1940 BuiltConstructed 1940-41 by the Civilian Conservation Corps for the National Park ServiceSources: nhlr.org, home.nps.gov
  2. 1943 EventLos Alamos National Lab set up next to the monument (register credits the Atomic Energy Commission, which did not exist until 1947; the story omits that attribution)Source: nhlr.org
  3. 1948 EventSanta Fe National Forest, AEC and the monument made a cooperative agreement for detection and suppressionSource: nhlr.org
  4. No record between 1948 and 2016
  5. 2016 StaffedRegister says the lookout was actively used to at least 2016Source: nhlr.org
  6. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered with the National Historic Lookout Register on July 7, 2022Source: nhlr.org
  7. 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.

Bandelier Lookout stands inside Bandelier National Monument, in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, at 6,536 feet.1 Civilian Conservation Corps crews put it up in 1940-41 for the National Park Service.1 It follows the Park Service's standard lookout drawing, PG-3040, with a wood cab over a stone basement.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association describes it as a two-story cab.2 The CCC enrollees at the monument built 31 stone buildings, including the fire tower and entrance station, and by late 1941 the work was nearly finished and the camp had moved out of Frijoles Canyon.3 That page does not name the lookout, so linking its fire tower to this one is an inference.

The register also covers the years after construction. In 1943 Los Alamos National Lab was set up next to the monument.1 In 1948 the Santa Fe National Forest, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the monument reached a cooperative agreement covering detection and suppression.1 The register reports active use through at least 2016.1 The sources I read name no notable fires and no individual lookout staff.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as standing.2 The register recorded it on July 7, 2022.1 I found nothing in these sources about it being burned, moved or abandoned, and none of them say when active use ended.

The register's two photographs, a 1964 view and a construction photo from 1940-41, are both credited to the monument.1 I could not confirm whether the cab is open to visitors or available as a rental. Check the monument's own pages before any visit, and do not climb or enter the cab without the park's permission.

One listing places the site in Sandoval County instead of Los Alamos County.4 This story follows the register, which names Los Alamos County.1

  1. Bandelier Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/bandelier-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. New Mexico Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/nm/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. The Civilian Conservation Corps at Bandelier, National Park Service, https://home.nps.gov/band/learn/historyculture/the-civilian-conservation-corps-at-bandelier.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Bandelier, West Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/bandelier.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Bandelier Lookout - 1964
Bandelier Lookout - 1964 (1964)Photo: Bandelier National Monument, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bandelier Lookout under construction - 1940-41
Bandelier Lookout under construction - 1940-41 (1940)Photo: Bandelier National Monument, via 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, what it is built of, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, dates, photos, 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.