FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Delaware County, New York

Rock Rift Fire Tower

Also known as Rock Rift Mountain, Pines Lookout Tower

CCC-built 1934 International Derrick fire tower on Tower Mountain above Cannonsville Reservoir; closed 1989, handed to the Town of Tompkins 2017, closed for climbing during renovations.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. Closed for climbing during renovations (late 2025 information); Wikipedia (Tower Mountain article) says the tower is not safe to climb, but the tower's own Wikipedia article says it may be climbed to just below the cab when the steps are snow-free and weather permits

Visit & stay

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

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Hike from a parking lot where NYS Routes 10 and 268 meet; parts of the trail cross private and New York City reservoir land, so stay on marked public trails
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 2017-04-29)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower72-foot-9-inch International Derrick E-4898 steel fire tower, 1933 modelThe design: IDECO
Built of
Steel
Built
1934
Height
73 ft (22.2 m)
Elevation
2,376 ft (724 m)
Agency
Town of Tompkins
Land
Unknown
Location
Delaware County, New York
Coordinates
42.10390, −75.22673
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-rock-rift

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 3.6 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 BuiltErected by the Civilian Conservation CorpsSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1935 First staffedFirst staffedSource: en.wikipedia.org
  3. No record between 1935 and 1988
  4. 1988 Last staffedLookout operations ended at the end of the 1988 seasonSource: en.wikipedia.org
  5. 1989 ClosedOfficially closed in early 1989; a 2017 NHLR visit report describes a longer period closed to the public (see resolved_conflicts)Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nhlr.org
  6. No record between 1989 and 2017
  7. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 26, 2017 as NHLR US 1183Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2017 EventOwnership passed from NYSDEC to the Town of Tompkins; the land belongs to New York CitySource: en.wikipedia.org
  9. 2018 ClosedRock Rift tower was listed as closed to the public in the September 2018 newsletter (reason not given).Source: nysffla.org
  10. 2018 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesAdded to the National Register of Historic Places, reference 100003231Source: en.wikipedia.org
  11. 2020 ClosedThe Rock Rift tower was reported as closed to the public while the Town of Tompkins sought an engineering inspection to make it safe (reported).Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  12. 2021 Condition assessmentThe Town of Tompkins had engineer Jim Forbes inspect the Rock Rift tower; his report gave firm repair cost figures (reported spring 2021).Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  13. 2025 AlteredSummer 2025 project with the Town of Tompkins and NYCDEP; renovation under way, including stair treads and landingsSources: nysffla.org, komoot.com
  14. 2025 RestoredVolunteers with the Town of Tompkins started restoration in August and had replaced all steps and landings by month's end; remaining work was set for 2026.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  15. 2026 AlteredFurther rehabilitation planned to continue in summer 2026Source: en.wikipedia.org
  16. 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.

Rock Rift Fire Tower stands on the summit of Tower Mountain in the Town of Tompkins, Delaware County, and rises above the Cannonsville Reservoir.1 The Civilian Conservation Corps built it in 1934.1 The National Historic Lookout Register describes a 72-foot, 9-inch steel tower of the International Derrick E-4898 type, and says the US Forest Service provided it to New York State.2 Wikipedia describes it as a 1933 model.1

The first lookout watch began in 1935, and the last season ended in 1988.1,3 I found no account of a particular fire the tower spotted.

The state officially closed the tower in early 1989.3 In 2017 the tower passed from the state to the Town of Tompkins, while New York City owns the ground beneath it, inside its West of Hudson watershed.1 The sources do not agree on how long the public was kept away. A 2017 visit report says the tower had been off-limits to visitors for many years and reopened only a few years earlier, which does not fit the 1989 closure.2 Another 2017 visit report says the bottom set of stairs had been removed for safety.2 The tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 12, 2018.1

As of late 2025, a trail guide said the tower was closed for climbing during renovations, with volunteers replacing stair treads and landings.4 Wikipedia calls the tower unsafe to climb and says the Town of Tompkins plans to restore it.3 The tower's own Wikipedia article, however, says that when the steps are clear of snow and conditions allow, visitors may climb nearly to the cab, and that rehabilitation was planned to continue in summer 2026.1 A New York chapter list of projects shows a summer 2025 job on the tower with the town and NYCDEP.5 The sources conflict on whether it can be climbed now, so please do not climb it until that work is finished. The hike starts at a parking lot where Routes 10 and 268 meet, and some stretches cross private land and New York City reservoir property, so stay on marked public routes.4

  1. Rock Rift Fire Observation Tower, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Rift_Fire_Observation_Tower (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Rock Rift Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/rock-rift-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Tower Mountain (New York), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Mountain_(New_York) (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Rock Rift Fire Tower Trail, Komoot, https://www.komoot.com/smarttour/e2813462046/rock-rift-fire-tower-trail (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. NY FFLA Projects, New York State chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://www.nysffla.org/projects.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

March 2016 photo
March 2016 photo (2016)Photo: Laurie Rankin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Rock Rift Fire Tower
Photo: RetroRenaissanceMan, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: 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
  4. 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
  5. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: register numbers, photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 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, staffing, 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.