FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Socorro County, New Mexico

Mount Withington Lookout

R-3 special design lookout on Mount Withington in the Cibola National Forest, Socorro County; present cab 1952, first cupola 1934; NHLR-registered 2006.

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?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingSpecial R-3 design cab with a slightly sloped gable roof on a concrete block base; a catwalk was added laterThe designs: Region 3 cab, D-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
10,072 ft (3,070 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Cibola National Forest (Magdalena Ranger District as cooperator)
Land
Federal land
Location
Socorro County, New Mexico
Coordinates
33.88090, −107.48615
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-mount-withington

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 2.9 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. 1934 BuiltFirst lookout on the site: a D-6 cupola that served 18 yearsSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1934 and 1952
  3. 1952 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  4. 1952 Replaced by a new structurePresent R-3 station replaced the 1934 cupola; the FFLA report says the lookout was erected in 1952Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.org
  5. No record between 1952 and 1988
  6. 1988 Condition assessmentEvaluated for NRHP under the thematic nomination Lookouts of the Southwest Region; not eligible due to ageSource: firelookout.org
  7. No record between 1988 and 2006
  8. 2006 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 30, 2006 as US 669, NM 23; nominated by Dave LorenzSource: nhlr.org
  9. 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 lookout on Mount Withington stands on the summit in the Cibola National Forest, in Socorro County, New Mexico.1,2 The register lists the Magdalena Ranger District as a cooperator.1

The first lookout on the site was a D-6 cupola, built in 1934. That cupola served 18 years before the present station took its place in 1952.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's 2020 New Mexico report also gives 1952 as the year the lookout was erected.3

The present cab is a special R-3 design with a slightly sloped gable roof, set on a concrete block base.1 The register also records a catwalk, added afterward.1 The 2020 report contrasts it with the CL-100 series, which has a flat roof; this cab has a slightly sloped gable.3

The register entry, US 669, NM 23, was recorded on April 30, 2006, and nominated by Dave Lorenz.1 In 1988 the lookout was evaluated for the National Register of Historic Places under a thematic nomination, but it was not found eligible because of its age.3 The 2020 report says it is now 68 years old and should be re-evaluated and nominated if eligible.3

The association's New Mexico list shows the lookout as standing.4 The 2020 report marks several Lincoln towers as proposed for the cabin rental program.3 Its Cibola list gives Mount Withington no such mark, and I found no rental listing for it.3 The sources I read do not say who has staffed the lookout or which fires it watched.

Visitors should know that the summit road is Forest Service Road 138, which a travel guide describes as completely unpaved. The guide says a 4x4 vehicle is required and that the road is closed annually from October 1 to May 15.2 The dates come from a travel guide, not the Forest Service, so check the closure with the Forest Service before you drive it.

  1. Mount Withington Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/mount-withington-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Travel guide to the top of Mount Withington in New Mexico, Dangerous Roads (dangerousroads.org), https://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/6995-mount-withington.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. New Mexico Chapter 2020 Year-End Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nm-2020.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. New Mexico Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/nm/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Withington 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, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, 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.