Fire lookout · Cibola County, New Mexico
Brushy (Cibollito) Lookout
Also known as Brushy (Cebollita), Brushy Lookout
Open steel Aermotor tower with a 7x7 cab on Cibollito Peak, Isleta-Acoma reservation land; registered 2022; construction date and use unknown, standing.
- 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. NHLR places the lookout on the Isleta-Acoma Indian Reservation; no visitor rules in the sources read
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower50-foot open steel Aermotor tower with a 7x7 observation cab; a residence cabin is also on siteThe design: Aermotor
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- Unknown
- Height
- 50 ft (15.2 m)
- Elevation
- 8,776 ft (2,675 m)
- Agency
- Isleta-Acoma Indian Agency
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Cibola County, New Mexico
- Coordinates
- 34.71951, −107.84816
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-nm-brushy-cibollito
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 2.9 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
- 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register as US 1649, NM 48 on July 7, 2022Source: 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.
Brushy Lookout stands on Cibollito Peak in Cibola County, New Mexico.1 The National Historic Lookout Register places it on the Isleta-Acoma Indian Reservation.1 Other lists give the name as Brushy (Cebollita).2
The Register describes a 50-foot open-framed steel tower made by Aermotor, capped with a 7-by-7-foot observation cab; the site also holds a residence cabin.1 The Register says the construction date and the current use are unknown, and the sources read do not supply either.1
The Register names the Isleta-Acoma Indian Agency as the administrator, and a Forest Lookouts list gives the same name.1,3 The Register accepted the lookout on July 7, 2022, as US 1649, NM 48.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's New Mexico list shows the tower as standing.2
The sources read say nothing about who staffed the tower, what fires it watched, or whether it was ever abandoned. Nothing found describes a nomination or a rebuild either.
Today the tower is listed as standing.2 Because the Register places it on reservation land, access may require permission, and the sources give no visitor rules.1 Before going anywhere near it, ask the administering office named in the Register, and do not climb a tower that is closed or posted.1
- Brushy (Cibollito) Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/brushy-cibollito-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- New Mexico Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/nm/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Brushy, Forest Lookouts (westlookouts.weebly.com), https://westlookouts.weebly.com/brushy.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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, what it is built of, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures (opens another site) Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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
- NHLR register entry US 1649 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA New Mexico lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Brushy on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap way 1553097408 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.