Some 5,000 fire lookout towers once dotted America’s wilderness areas. These austere one-room cabins, often raised on stilts, provided excellent vantage points for workers charged with spying wildfires. The lookouts were seasonal—during active fire periods, if a blaze broke out, tower staff would alert the authorities.

Today, technology has largely rendered individual fire lookouts obsolete, and many towers have been taken down or lost to time and the elements. Of the 400 or so left, many are accessible to day hikers and overnight visitors. Great news, because they’re often perched before particularly attractive vistas, affording visitors the same sweeping views once crucial for spotting distant fires. They’re also living museums, sentinels bearing witness to a distinct period of wildland firefighting history. Some are empty and boarded up, with just the exterior balconies accessible, while others are open and stocked with antique fire-spotting equipment.

Here are a few we recommend exploring. Our criteria? Regional diversity, historic interest—and of course, fantastic scenery.

Rich Mountain Lookout Tower, North Carolina

Perched on the North Carolina–Tennessee state line, near Hot Springs, North Carolina, this tower’s views stretch all the way to Mt. Mitchell and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Rich Mountain Lookout Tower’s life began in 1932, and it was staffed until the mid-1990s. But the tower fell into disrepair, and it was closed to the public in 2017. Now, the tower sports new roofing, walls, deck railings, fresh paint, and other updates, and it’s again open to the public. Hikers can reach it via a 2.2-mile round trip along the Appalachian Trail from Hurricane Gap. The tower’s “cab” sits atop 30-foot scaffolding, with stairs to access the structure’s upper level.

Rich Mountain Lookout Tower | Photo by Peter Barr

Desolation Peak Tower, Washington

Just south of the US-Canada border, in Washington State’s North Cascades, Desolation Peak Tower melds history with scenery. Novelist Jack Kerouac staffed the tower in the summer of 1956, and his experiences inspired his book Desolation Angels. The hike to get here is quite the trek; hikers can either paddle or take a water taxi to the Desolation Peak Trailhead, which sits off Ross Lake and isn’t accessible by car. Or, they can hike in 16 miles to the trailhead from the East Bank Trailhead, off Highway 20. From there, it’s a 4.7-mile trek with a quad-busting 4,500 feet of elevation gain to the tower. The reward: views extending across the “American Alps” of North Cascades National Park and the dramatic double summit of Hozomeen Mountain.

The Desolation Peak Tower overlooks Hozomeen Mountain. | Photo courtesy of the National Park Service

Sourdough Mountain Lookout, Washington

Also perched in the North Cascades, Sourdough Mountain Lookout was one of the first built by the US Forest Service. Beat poets Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen staffed the tower in the 1950s, penning poems about their experiences. The tower, built in 1933 and restored in 1998, can be reached after a series of punishing switchbacks that gain more than 4,000 feet over 5.2 miles. At the top, views of the North Cascades’ riot of glaciated peaks await.

Smith Mountain Fire Tower, Alabama

Smith Mountain Fire Tower was built in the 1930s, on a prominent hill rising above Lake Martin. The restored tower affords views of one of the lake’s many islands and its complex, branching network of arms and inlets. The trail is just 0.8 miles round trip, and it’s popular with birders, who come to the pine forest to see prairie warblers, pileated woodpeckers, and ruby-crowned kinglets. The rocky area is also home to a few climbing routes.

Smith Mountain Fire Tower | Photo by Gary Weber

Black Elk Peak Lookout Tower, South Dakota

The stone lookout tower on Black Elk Peak in Custer State Park marks the highest point in South Dakota. The peak’s history as a fire lookout vantage point dates to 1911, though the first fire-spotting structure, a wood building, wasn’t built until 1920. The Civilian Conservation Corps converted it to stone in 1938—a noticeable departure from most other fire towers. From the tower, the mountain’s sheer granite cliffs fall away toward the Black Hills. There are several trails to access the tower, with the most popular being the 7.9-mile loop starting from Sylvan Lake. Visitors can explore the tower’s interior too.

McCart Lookout, Montana

Hikers can try out a day in the life of a fire lookout by renting McCart Lookout, in Montana’s Bitterroot National Forest, overnight. The tower sits at the end of a 1.5-mile trail, with views across the Pintler and Bitterroot Mountains. It’s been restored to its 1940s appearance, with a wrap-around catwalk and large windows for 360-degree views. The cabin is outfitted with a wood-burning stove, furniture, dishes, a two-person bed platform, and a bow saw and ax for making firewood. Reservations are just $30 a night but are tough to come by.

McCart Lookout | Photo by Gary Weber