FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Socorro County, New Mexico

Grassy Lookout

Also known as Grassy Mountain

Cibola National Forest fire lookout on Grassy Mountain, Socorro County: a 14-by-14-foot CL-100 steel cab built in 1960 on a 10-foot block base.

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 building14-by-14-foot CL-100 series steel cab on a 10-foot block baseThe design: CL-100
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1960
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
9,643 ft (2,939 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Socorro County, New Mexico
Coordinates
33.78733, −107.47227
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-grassy

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. 1960 BuiltCL-100 steel cab on a 10-foot block base; a November 1959 newspaper item said it was nearing completionSources: westlookouts.weebly.com, facebook.com, firelookout.org
  2. No record between 1960 and 1988
  3. 1988 Condition assessmentEvaluated for the NRHP in the 1988 thematic nomination and found not eligible because of its ageSource: firelookout.org
  4. No record between 1988 and 2006
  5. 2006 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered with the National Historic Lookout Register on April 30, 2006Source: nhlr.org
  6. 2020 Condition assessment2020 chapter report: lookout is 50 years old and should be re-evaluated for NRHP nominationSource: firelookout.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.

Grassy Lookout is a fire tower on Grassy Mountain in the Cibola National Forest, in Socorro County, New Mexico.1 A November 1959 Albuquerque Journal item, quoted on the Forest Lookouts website, said the Grassy tower in the San Mateo district was nearing completion.2 The Forest Service's history of southwestern lookouts, as that same site quotes it, gives 1960 as the year the cab was built, and a Forest Service post agrees.2,3

The cab is a 14-by-14-foot steel cab of the CL-100 series, set on a 10-foot block base.4 The register calls the base concrete block.1 The Forest Lookouts page says cinder block, and adds that the base was used for storage.2

In 1988 the tower was evaluated for the National Register under a thematic nomination and found not eligible.4 The 2020 New Mexico chapter report says the reason was its age.4 That report now puts the lookout at 50 years old and says it should be re-evaluated and nominated if eligible.4

The sources I read do not say who has staffed Grassy recently. A Forest Service post says the Cibola has six lookouts that help detect fires. It also says Grassy and the Mount Withington lookout were protected and stayed in good condition after the Bear Trap Fire, though the post gives no year for that fire.3

Do not confuse it with a different fire. A Forest Service fire release lists a Grassy Fire, about a tenth of an acre and started by lightning, that the Withington lookout reported on July 31, 2026.5

The register describes Grassy as in active service, with no date given.1 None of the sources I read say whether the public may visit or climb it, so check with the Cibola National Forest before you try to climb it.

  1. Grassy Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/grassy-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Grassy Mountain, Forest Lookouts (westlookouts.weebly.com), https://westlookouts.weebly.com/grassy-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands, Facebook post on the forest's six fire lookouts and the Bear Trap Fire, https://www.facebook.com/cibolanf/posts/the-cibola-national-forest-national-grasslands-have-six-fire-lookouts-that-assis/316273054017617/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. 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). ↩
  5. New Fire Starts and Updates, Wildfires, Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/cibola/newsroom/releases/new-fire-starts-and-updates-wildfires (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Grassy Lookout
Photo: 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, 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, 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: 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: 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, 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.