Wildfires in the San Gabriels

Fire Lookouts in the Angeles National Forest

Lookout Mt. (6812') (1915-1927) Following the Great Fire of 1910 which consumed three million acres in Washington, Idaho, and Montana, thousands of fire lookout towers where built throughout the U.S. over the following decades. There were 19 built in the Angeles National Forest. With South Mount Hawkins burning down in September 2002 and Vetter Mountain burning down in September 2009, there are no active fire lookout towers left in the Angeles. Visit the Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association to learn more about their work. Other Fire Lookouts Links

Vetter Mountain (5908') - Angeles National Forest
	6-23-01 - My daughter Christa and I made this easy 3-mile-round-trip hike to one of the last two remaining fire lookouts in the Angeles National Forest at the time.
Vetter Mountain Fire Lookout was destroyed in the September 2009 Station Fire, along with a third of the Angeles National Forest. In an effort lasting nearly 11 years, the Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association (ANFFLA) completed reconstruction the historic lookout. The completion was announced on their Facebook page on May 8, 2020. View story here

South Mount Hawkins (7783') - Angeles National Forest
	9-2-12 - I hiked to the historic fire lookout on the 10th anniversary of it being burned down by the Curve Fire, Labor Day Sunday. View my blog posts:  Curve Fire Remember 10 Years Later  Hawkins Ridge Hike - September 2-3, 2012 View my Hawkins Ridge Hike photo album for more photos - 130 photos with captions on my Google+ site (Sept. 2-3, 2012)
South Mount Hawkins Fire Lookout before it burned down in Sept 2002. Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

Johnstone Peak (3178') - Angeles National Forest
	9-27-13 on display at the Los Angeles County Fair - This restored lookout tower was moved from Johnstone Peak in Angeles Natonal Forest above San Dimas where it stood from 1934 to 1992. Today Johnston Peak lies within the San Dimas Experimental Forest and is off limits to the public.

Sunset Peak (5796') - Angeles National Forest
	Sunset Peak Fire Lookout was built in 1927 and stood until the 1970s. The photo on the left is courtesy of John Robinson via Peakbagging.com. The other pics are from my hike on April 13, 2008. See my Sunset Peak hike description.

Lookout tower footers on Mount Islip Other Fire Lookouts in the Angeles National Forest Here are some other sites of fire lookout towers I've hiked to in the San Gabriels: San Gabriel Peak (6161') - 1928 to 1937 Mount Islip (8250') - 1927 to 1937, moved to South Mount Hawkins

Castro Peak (2824') - Santa Monica Mountains
You can visit this tower by taking a 5.4-mile-round-trip hike to Henninger Flats (2550') above Altadena.	2-15-10 on display at Henninger Flats in the San Gabriel Mountains - This lookout tower was moved from Castro Peak in the Santa Monica Mountains where it stood from 1925 to 1971.

Slide Mountain (4631') - Los Padres National Forest
May 23, 2011 - Photo borrowed from Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association - This is the last remaining active fire lookout tower serviced by the Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association (ANFFLA), even though it's actually located in the Los Padres National Forest.	I've not yet visited it but I snapped this blurry, zoomed-in picture while driving on the I-5 near Pyrmid Lake (12-23-11). The tower was built in 1969 and requires a 11-mile-round-trip hike to get to it.

Stawberry Peak (6153') - San Bernardino National Forest
	7-24-01 - I visited this classic fire lookout in Twin Peaks near Lake Arrowhead, San Bernardino National Forest. My ascent wasn't actually a hike (note my van on the left) since it is an easy drive to the top.
Looking south. The thick haze in the valleys below, typical of the Southern California summers, obscures the cities below. For informaiton about visiting the seven active fire lookout towers in the San Bernardino National Forest, go to Mountains Foundation.org
Wildfires in the San Gabriels