FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Clinton County, New York

Lyon Mountain Fire Tower

A 35-foot Aermotor tower on Lyon Mountain, built 1917; in use until 1988, officially closed 1989, still standing and reachable by a marked hiking trail.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. The NHLR says the trail is well marked and signed; Wikipedia says hikers can reach the tower; the New York Almanack says it can be climbed. The tower stands in the Chazy Highlands Wild Forest, and the access road is seasonal.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
A 6.8-mile round trip per the New York Almanack, starting at a parking area about one mile up a seasonal dirt road off Chazy Lake Road.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LS-40 steel tower, 35 ftThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1917
Height
36 ft (11.0 m)
Elevation
3,813 ft (1,162 m)
Agency
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Land
State land
Location
Clinton County, New York
Coordinates
44.70475, −73.86273
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-lyon-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.

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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. 1910 EventFire lookout station established without a tower, because the summit was bareSource: en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1917 Built35-foot Aermotor LS-40 steel tower erected on the summit by the New York State Conservation CommissionSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org, newyorkalmanack.com
  3. 1922 EventNew observer's cabin built in 1922 under the newly adopted standard 12 by 16 foot cabin plan for observers.Source: nysffla.org
  4. No record between 1922 and 1988
  5. 1988 Last staffedTower in use until the end of the 1988 fire seasonSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  6. 1989 ClosedOfficially closed in early 1989; DEC judged that airplanes were more effective for spotting firesSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  7. No record between 1989 and 2005
  8. 2005 AlteredNYSDEC and the Student Conservation Corps replaced footings, landing boards, stairs, cab floor and safety netting; materials flown in by state police helicopterSource: nhlr.org
  9. 2005 EventDomtar, owner of the tower and surrounding land until January 2005, sold about 20,000 acres to The Nature Conservancy; the land later went to New York StateSource: en.wikipedia.org
  10. 2016 EventNYS chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association agreed to maintain the trail and towerSource: nhlr.org
  11. 2017 AlteredInside of the cab repainted to cover graffitiSource: nhlr.org
  12. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register January 23, 2017 as US 1174Source: nhlr.org
  13. 2020 RestoredIn fall 2020 volunteers carried up and installed new safety wire on the Lyon Mountain tower to replace wire that fell off about two years earlier (reported).Source: nysffla.org
  14. 2023 RestoredDuring a July 2023 trail trip, chapter volunteers repaired fencing and did general maintenance at Lyon Mountain tower.Source: nysffla.org
  15. 2024 AlteredVolunteers installed new safety fencing on the tower on Sept. 22, carrying the fencing and tools up the trail.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  16. 2024 RestoredFour FFLA volunteers replaced broken and cracked steps on the tower on Sept. 22.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  17. 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.

Lyon Mountain's lookout began in April 1910 as a station with no tower, because the summit was bare at the time.1 In 1917 the New York State Conservation Commission put a 35-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower on the summit.1,2

The tower was in use until the end of the 1988 fire season and was officially closed in early 1989. The state concluded that airplanes did a better job of spotting fires than towers did.3,1

Ownership changed hands in the years that followed.1 Domtar owned the tower and the land around it until January 2005, when it sold about 20,000 acres to The Nature Conservancy. The land later went to New York State.1 That same year, the DEC and the Student Conservation Corps replaced the footings, landing boards, stairs, cab floor and safety netting, and materials were flown in by a state police helicopter.3 The cab's interior was repainted in 2017 to cover graffiti.3 The NHLR added the tower to its register in January 2017.3

The NHLR calls the tower's overall condition excellent, and a radio repeater with solar panels and an antenna sits on the tower.3 Each summer the Town of Saranac and the NYSDEC employ a summit steward to welcome visitors and explain the tower's past.3 In the fall of 2016 the New York chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association signed a deal to keep up the trail and the tower.3

Wikipedia says hikers can still reach the tower.1 A 2022 article describes a 6.8-mile round trip from a parking area about a mile up a seasonal dirt road off Chazy Lake Road, on a trail the Adirondack Mountain Club built about a decade earlier, and says the tower can be climbed.2 Check current conditions before you go.

  1. Lyon Mountain (Clinton County, New York), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon_Mountain_(Clinton_County,_New_York) (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Recreation Highlight: Lyon Mountain Fire Tower, New York Almanack, https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2022/08/recreation-highlight-lyon-mountain-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Lyon Mountain Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/lyon-mountain-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Lyon Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: SummitPost.org, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Lyon Mountain Fire Tower
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, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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. Map and Coordinates List for NYS DEC Firetowers (Andy Arthur) Gave us: ownership, links Andy Arthur, andyarthur.org (CC BY 3.0) · CC BY 3.0, credit: Andy Arthur, andyarthur.org. Facts + short description text reused under that licence. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter (nysffla.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 chapter newsletter it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR and FFLA records (the chapter publishes none). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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

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