FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Cedro Peak Lookout

Also known as Cedro

Cab on an AT&T electronics building roof on Cedro Peak in the Sandia Ranger District since 1969; earlier towers date to the 1920s and 1935. Blog reports it locked and not staffed.

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. Access road reported gated and the lookout locked, per a personal blog (undated); no Forest Service notice was found.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
The blog reports visitors may not use the stairway to the balcony.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower14x14 ft metal CL-100 series cab placed on the roof of an AT&T electronics building beside a transmission towerThe design: CL-100
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1969
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
7,750 ft (2,362 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Bernalillo County, New Mexico
Coordinates
35.05310, −106.35168
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-cedro-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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1922 EventA wood fire lookout tower with a roofless platform was on the peak by 1922Source: dogofthedesert.net
  2. 1929 EventDepartment of Commerce permit for a 40-ft steel beacon tower; the Forest Service was to use it as a lookoutSources: westlookouts.weebly.com, dogofthedesert.net
  3. 1935 Replaced by a new structureCCC crew built a new steel tower (register: 45-ft metal tower), cabin and road; replaced the older towerSources: nhlr.org, westlookouts.weebly.com, dogofthedesert.net
  4. 1945 StaffedSummer lookout staffed by a chief lookout and an assistantSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1946 StaffedFire guards entered on duty at the lookout for the fire seasonSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1946 and 1969
  7. 1969 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  8. 1969 Replaced by a new structureAT&T built a transmission tower and a replacement building; the present 14x14 ft cab was placed on the building roofSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.org, dogofthedesert.net
  9. No record between 1969 and 1988
  10. 1988 Condition assessment1988 National Register thematic evaluation found the lookout not eligible due to ageSource: firelookout.org
  11. No record between 1988 and 2006
  12. 2006 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 15, 2006 as US 684, NM 24Source: nhlr.org
  13. 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.

Cedro Peak rises above Cedro Canyon in the Sandia Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest, and a lookout has stood on its summit since at least 1922.1,2 The register gives the first lookout as a 25-foot log tower from the 1920s. A 1935 newspaper called the old tower a 30-foot pole tower.1

In 1929 the Department of Commerce got a permit to build a 40-foot steel tower topped with a beacon light, to help airplanes through the gap between the Sandia and Manzano mountains. The Forest Service was to use it as a lookout too.1,2

In 1935 a Civilian Conservation Corps crew built a new tower, a cabin and a road to the top. The register dates the replacement to that year and calls it a 45-foot metal tower.3,1,2 A 1935 newspaper said the new frame rose more than 45 feet above the summit, and a 1945 article described a 50-foot tower. The 1945 figure does not match the register's 45 feet.3,1

The lookout was staffed in fire season in the 1940s.1 In 1945 a chief lookout kept watch with an assistant, a dog named Bing.1 In May 1946 fire guards went on duty there for the season.1 Water still had to be packed in, the 1935 coverage notes.1

In 1969 AT&T erected a large transmission tower at the peak. The current 14-by-14-foot cab sits on top of the new electronics building beside it.3,4,2 The register lists 1969 as the build year, but that date belongs to this cab, not the first lookout.3

A 1988 thematic National Register evaluation found the lookout not eligible for listing because it was too young.4 A 2020 New Mexico chapter report says it should now be re-evaluated.4

Today the lookout is not staffed.2 A personal blog says the Forest Service now tracks wilderness fires mostly by satellite, and that the lookout is closed off and the access road is gated.2 Until about a decade ago, the blog says, a fire watcher could be visited there.2 Visitors are also not allowed to use the stairway to the balcony.2 The blog is undated, so check the current status with the Sandia Ranger District before planning anything.

  1. Cedro Peak, Forest Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/cedro-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Notes on Cedro Peak, dogofthedesert.net, https://www.dogofthedesert.net/cedro-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Cedro Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/cedro-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. New Mexico Chapter report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nm-2020.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Cedro Peak 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, 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 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
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, 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, 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.