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Fire lookout · Sandoval County, New Mexico

Cerro Pelado Lookout

Metal Forest Service cab built 1965 to replace an L-4 ground house; a 1946 newspaper describes an earlier wood-and-glass tower; reported lightning fires for the Forest Service in August 2026.

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. No visitor rules appear in the sources read. The register does not address access, and the lookout reported lightning fires for the Forest Service on August 3, 2026, so it is an active working post.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2026-08-03)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingCL-100 to CL-106 series 14x14-foot metal flat-top cab with metal catwalk on a 10-foot cinder block base with storage room (register)The designs: CL-100, L-4
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
36 ft (11.0 m)
Elevation
10,012 ft (3,052 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Sandoval County, New Mexico
Coordinates
35.78427, −106.54923
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-cerro-pelado

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. 1916 EventRangers at the site had a telephone link into the Forest Service system and tested heliograph signals with Rabbit MountainSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1916 and 1932
  3. 1932 BuiltEarlier L-4 ground house, dated 1932 by the register; replaced in 1965Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.org
  4. 1946 StaffedSanta Fe New Mexican item describes a lookout working a small wood-and-glass tower anchored with wire cables; gives the peak as 11,000 feetSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1946 and 1965
  6. 1965 BuiltStandard Plan metal cab with metal catwalk on a 10-foot cinder block base with storage roomSource: nhlr.org
  7. 1965 Replaced by a new structureThe 1965 cab replaced the L-4 ground houseSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.org
  8. No record between 1965 and 1988
  9. 1988 Condition assessmentEvaluated for the thematic National Register nomination and found not eligible due to ageSource: firelookout.org
  10. No record between 1988 and 2020
  11. 2020 Condition assessmentForest Fire Lookout Association report recommends re-evaluation for the National Register now that the cab is 55 years oldSource: firelookout.org
  12. 2022 FireCerro Pelado Fire on the Jemez Ranger District in spring 2022, caused by a holdover from the Pino West Piles prescribed fire; the release does not say the fire reached the lookoutSource: fs.usda.gov
  13. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register on May 22, 2022Source: nhlr.org
  14. 2026 StaffedForest Service updates credit two lightning fires reported on August 3, 2026 to the Cerro Pelado LookoutSource: fs.usda.gov
  15. 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.

The Cerro Pelado lookout stands in Sandoval County, New Mexico, within the Santa Fe National Forest.1 A 2020 Forest Fire Lookout Association report places it on the Jemez Ranger District.2 The present cab follows a Forest Service standard plan: a flat-top metal cab of 14 by 14 feet with a catwalk, set on a 10-foot cinder block base with a storage room.1 The register dates the cab to 1965, when it replaced an L-4 ground house that the register dates to 1932.1

The site was in use well before that.3 A 1916 Santa Fe New Mexican item, quoted by West Lookouts, says the Cerro Pelado rangers had a telephone link into the Forest Service network, and that they were testing heliograph signals with Rabbit Mountain.3 A 1946 Santa Fe New Mexican item describes a lookout who worked in a small wood-and-glass tower anchored with wire cables, and it gives the peak as 11,000 feet, against the register's 10,012 feet.3,1 A wood-and-glass tower does not fit the register's ground house, so the sources do not agree on what stood there before 1965.1,3

The peak's name also appears on a 2022 fire.4 The Cerro Pelado Fire burned on the Jemez Ranger District in spring 2022.4 The Forest Service later found that it began as a holdover from the Pino West Piles prescribed fire, a debris pile burn that smoldered unseen under wet snow.4 The release does not say whether the fire reached the lookout.4

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the lookout as a standing two-story cab.5 The register recorded it on May 22, 2022.1 On August 3, 2026, two lightning fires on the Santa Fe National Forest were reported by the Cerro Pelado Lookout, which suggests the post was manned that summer.6 The register does not address visitor access.1 Because the lookout was reporting fires in 2026, treat it as a working post rather than a visitor site.6

  1. Cerro Pelado Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/cerro-pelado-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. 2020 Year-End Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, New Mexico Chapter, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nm-2020.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Cerro Pelado - Forest Lookouts, West Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/cerro-pelado.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. USDA Forest Service confirms cause of the 2022 Cerro Pelado Fire on the Santa Fe National Forest, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/santafe/newsroom/releases/usda-forest-service-confirms-cause-2022-cerro-pelado-fire-santa-fe (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. New Mexico Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/nm/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. New starts and updates on wildfires on the Santa Fe National Forest, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/santafe/newsroom/releases/new-starts-and-updates-wildfires-santa-fe-national-forest (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

2010 photo
2010 photo (2010)Photo: Janie O'Rourke, 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1965
    • Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports: 1932

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

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: what it is built of, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: height, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 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, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.