FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Cibola County, New Mexico

La Mosca Lookout

Also known as LA Mosca Peak

A Cibola National Forest lookout on La Mosca Peak, with construction reported in 1939; the current CL-100 cab dates to the 1960s.

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
Staffed during fire season (as of 2017)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingCL-100 series 14x14 ft metal cab with catwalk on a 10-ft concrete block baseThe designs: CL-100, L-4
Built of
Steel
Built
1939
Height
12 ft (3.7 m)
Elevation
11,036 ft (3,364 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Cibola National Forest (Mount Taylor Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Cibola County, New Mexico
Coordinates
35.25100, −107.59600
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-la-mosca

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 3.1 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. 1939 BuiltConstruction of a lookout structure on La Mosca Peak reported June to October 1939; a 1940 survey disk is stamped on the doorstepSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1939 and 1960
  3. 1960 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  4. 1960 Replaced by a new structureRegister gives 1960 for the current CL-100 cab, which it says replaced an L-4 lookout from the early 1930sSource: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1960 and 2005
  6. 2005 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterUS 634, NM 11, registered April 1, 2005Source: nhlr.org
  7. 2017 Condition assessmentRegister visit report, July 30, 2017: good condition, staffedSource: nhlr.org
  8. 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.

La Mosca Lookout stands on La Mosca Peak, just northeast of Mount Taylor in Cibola County, at 11,036 feet.1,2 Work on a lookout for the peak was reported in 1939.3 In June the Albuquerque Journal reported material being hauled up for the structure, and by October the forest supervisor expected the observatory, a cistern and two miles of road to be finished that week.3 A 1945 Forest Service description, carried in a National Geodetic Survey record, says a survey disk stamped LA MOSCA 1940 sits in the doorstep, and that a new Forest Service road leads straight to the lookout.3

A 1939 newspaper item said the building would be fully glazed, with living quarters for the watchman, and that a tower was unnecessary because of the peak's height above the surrounding land.3 The register says the current metal cab replaced an L-4 lookout from the early 1930s and gives 1960 as the build date. A 2020 review says there is no exact construction date beyond the 1960s.1,4 These accounts do not fully line up with the 1939 articles, so the early history of the site stays unclear.

Today the lookout is a CL-100 series cab, a 14-by-14-foot metal cab with a catwalk, on a 10-foot concrete block base.1 The register lists it as added on April 1, 2005, as US 634 (NM 11).1 A 2017 visit report on the register rated it in good condition and staffed.1

The 2020 review used 1970 as an assumed construction date when testing the lookout for the National Register, because no exact date is known. It recommended that the lookout be evaluated.4

The Cibola National Forest's own photo page places the lookout in its Mount Taylor Ranger District.2 I found no public visiting or rental information in these sources. The only staffing record here is a 2017 visit, so treat it as a working tower and do not climb it.

  1. La Mosca Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/la-mosca-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. La Mosca Lookout Mt Taylor, Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands (Flickr), https://www.flickr.com/photos/cibola_nfg/52279007688 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. La Mosca Peak, FOREST LOOKOUTS (westlookouts.weebly.com), https://westlookouts.weebly.com/la-mosca-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. New Mexico Lookouts 2020 Year-End Report, firelookout.org, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nm-2020.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of La Mosca Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of La Mosca 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, what it is built of, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 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, 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.