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Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Nevada

Ella Mountain Lookout

Also known as Ella Mt.

BLM-administered Nevada lookout in Lincoln County, standing and seasonally staffed; the register dates it 1962 and UTV Guide 1964.

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
Trail
rugged forest roads best suited to high-clearance vehicles, per UTV Guide
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingmodified R-6 flattop cab, 14 by 14 feet with a catwalk and slightly slanting windows, on an 8-foot concrete block base; FFLA lists a 2-story cabThe design: R-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,431 ft (2,265 m)
Agency
Bureau of Land Management, Ely District
Land
Federal land
Location
Lincoln County, Nevada
Coordinates
37.45913, −114.46805
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nv-ella-mountain

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 3.2 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. 1962 BuiltNHLR gives 1962 and describes the cab; UTV Guide gives 1964 instead, so the year is unresolvedSources: nhlr.org, utvguide.net
  2. No record between 1962 and 2003
  3. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterNHLR registration date May 29, 2003Source: nhlr.org
  4. 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.

Ella Mountain rises in the Clover Mountains of Lincoln County, Nevada, about 80 miles north of Las Vegas near the Utah border.1 The National Historic Lookout Register dates the lookout to 1962.1 Its cab measures 14 by 14 feet, has a catwalk, and follows a modified R-6 flattop design with slightly slanting windows, set on an eight-foot concrete block base.1 UTV Guide gives 1964 as the build year.2 It also places the lookout in the Spring Mountains, which does not match the register's Clover Mountains.1,2

The Bureau of Land Management's Ely District administers the lookout, and the register counts it among a handful of BLM-operated lookouts in the country.1 The register also says it is the only remaining staffed structure among Nevada's three standing lookouts.1 UTV Guide says it is typically manned from May to October.2

The register recorded the lookout on May 29, 2003.1 The register and the Forest Fire Lookout Association both list the tower as standing.1,3

UTV Guide calls it an excellent destination from Caliente and says the rugged forest roads leading to it are best driven in a vehicle with high ground clearance.2 Because the lookout is typically manned only from May to October, check with the BLM before you go.1,2

  1. Ella Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nv/ella-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Ride Spot: Ella Mountain Fire Lookout, UTV Guide, https://utvguide.net/ride-spot-ella-mountain-fire-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Nevada Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/nv/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Ella Mountain Lookout - 2022
Ella Mountain Lookout - 2022 (2022)Photo: Ryan Riekkoff, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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: 1962
    • Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports: 1964

    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, 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. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: register numbers Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: register numbers Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, 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.