FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Otero County, New Mexico

Carrisa Lookout

1935 CCC lookout complex in Otero County with an 80-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower; restored 2010-2012, NRHP-listed 1988, cabin rental planned, road gated.

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. Forest Service page (updated February 19, 2025) marks the site Site Open, but the road to the lookout is gated and closed; the area is reached on foot.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
The road to the lookout is gated and closed; access to the area is by foot.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower80-foot Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot steel cab, plus an observer's cabin and tool shedThe design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
Steel
Built
1935
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
8,452 ft (2,576 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Otero County, New Mexico
Coordinates
32.67624, −105.61946
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-carrisa

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 3.0 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. 1932 EventOctober 20, 1932 newspaper item mentions a new Forest Service road at a Carisso tower; may or may not refer to this siteSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1935 BuiltComplex constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps; the Forest Service dates the tower's erection to 1934 and the cabin and shed to 1935Sources: nhlr.org, fs.usda.gov, firelookout.org
  3. No record between 1935 and 1958
  4. 1958 StaffedApril 1958 item says a man was to serve as fire guard at the Carrizo fire lookout that summer; August 1958 item says a couple served as fire guards there (spelled Carizozo); link to this tower not certainSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1958 and 1988
  6. 1988 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesComplex listed on the National Register of Historic Places; 1/28/1988 in the 2020 report's tableSources: fs.usda.gov, firelookout.org
  7. No record between 1988 and 2010
  8. 2010 RestoredRestoration and rehabilitation began in 2010Source: firelookout.org
  9. 2011 RestoredLookout complex (tower with 7x7 cab, observer cabin, shed) restored, work begun 2010; later reports give 2012 as completion. First Lincoln NF rental-program restoration.Source: firelookout.org
  10. 2012 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered February 12, 2012 as US 940, NM 29; nominated by Mark H. GutzmanSource: nhlr.org
  11. 2012 RestoredRestoration and rehabilitation completed in 2012Sources: fs.usda.gov, firelookout.org
  12. 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.

Carrisa Lookout stands in the Sacramento Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest, in Otero County, New Mexico.1,2 The register describes an 80-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower with a 7-by-7-foot steel cab, constructed in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps.1,2 The Forest Service gives the tower's erection date as 1934, and puts the observer's cabin and shed in 1935.3

The name is spelled more than one way. The register uses Carrisa, while the Forest Service and the 2020 report use Carrissa.1,3,2 The 2020 report says the National Register nomination spelled it "Carissa" by mistake.2

Two 1958 newspaper items, reproduced on the Forest Lookouts page under Carrissa, concern fire guards at a lookout the papers call the Carrizo or Carizozo fire lookout.4 An April item says a man was to serve as fire guard there that summer. An August item says a couple had served there that summer. The spelling varies between items, so the link to this tower is not certain. An October 1932 item on the same page mentions a new Forest Service road at a "Carisso tower." If that refers to this site, a tower stood here before the 1934 and 1935 dates.4

The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.3,2 According to the 2020 report, work started in 2010 and finished in 2012.2 The Forest Service says the structures were restored in 2012.3,2 The 2020 report says it was the Lincoln National Forest's first restoration effort aimed at a future cabin rental program.2 The register added it on February 12, 2012, with Mark H. Gutzman as nominator.1

Today, the Forest Service page, last updated February 19, 2025, labels the site "Site Open." The road to the lookout is gated and closed, so the area is reached on foot.3 The page says the site "is being converted soon to a cabin rental site," but I found no source saying it has opened.3 The 2020 report also says the vault toilet was replaced with an accessible toilet.2

  1. Carrisa Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/carrisa-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. 2020 Year-End Report, New Mexico Chapter, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nm-2020.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Carrissa Lookout, Lincoln National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/lincoln/recreation/carrissa-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Carrissa, Forest Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/carrissa.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Carrisa Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Carrisa Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) 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
  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. Recreation Information Database (recreation.gov) Gave us: ownership, access Data source: ridb.recreation.gov · Public data from the US government · retrieved 12 Oct 2026
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: design, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.