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I’m a huge fan of fire lookout towers, both real and imagined. Visiting a fire tower is an exercise in solitude, and the experience always offers the chance for quiet moments of introspection. I find standing inside a 14-foot by 14-foot building that offers sweeping 360° views of the entire forest below it for miles in any direction to be very relaxing.
My favorite lookout tower (probably because it’s the first I ever visited) is the one at Vetter Mountain in Southern California’s San Gabriel Mountains. This is where I gained an appreciation of the Osborne Fire Finder, a cool gadget used to pinpoint rising smoke and determine the geographic location of an active forest fire.
I’ve visited the tower at Black Mountain near Idlywild, California a few times (although I’ve never stayed there), and I was fortunate enough to lead a multi-family hike all the way up to the former Needles Fire Lookout in the Sequoia National Forest the weekend before it burned down.
My appreciation of lookout towers extends to my home-bound leisure time pursuits as well. I thoroughly enjoyed Firewatch, Campo Santo’s fire lookout tower-themed video game (even if it’s less about fire…
