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Mt. Tom Fire Lookout

Located in the United States Forest Service's

Sierra National Forest, Minerets Ranger District

Photo, U.S.F.S. Mt. Tom Fire Lookout Tower

Mt. Tom's GPS location is 37.2235°N, 119.1048°W (Balloon Dome)

Photo, Line Space Divider

Mt. Tom Lookout is located at an elevation of 9,018 feet, and is closed during the winter months due to heavy snow levels. There is access to the tower and surrounding area to the general public during the summer when the tower is open for service. The towers map location is Township 0 South, Range 0 East, Section 0 on the Sierra National Forest Map. The tower has a three story stair master built into the tower to reach the cab. :-))

Mt. Tom Lookout was originally constructed in 19?? as a compass lookout with a steel structure base.

Mount Tom Lookout is a located in the State of California (County of Fresno), Sierra National Forest. Mount Tom Lookout is shown in the center of the topographic (topo) map, which is sourced from the United States Geographical Survey map USGS BALLOON DOME quad. The nearest major town is Mono Hot Springs, CA.

Photo, Mt. Tom's Panoramic View from Tower
Previewing QTVR panoramas requires the QuickTime plug-in, Click here to Download.
Click on thumbnail above to view the 1/2009 panorama, it is a large high resolution panorama and it will take sometime to download, but well worth it.

The following is a photo pan from the lookout with a brief description. Also, clicking on the photo will open a seperate 150kb+/- high resolution window for better viewing.

Photo, Line Space Divider

Photo, View from Tower to the North Photo, View from Tower to the Northeast

Looking North towards San Joaquin River Canyon, Mt. Ritter and Minarets Peak. Looking Northeast towards (L. to R.) Mammoth Mountain, Pincushion Peak, Sharktooth, Silver Peak and Saddle Mountain. .

Photo, View from Tower to the East Photo, View from Tower to the Southeast

Looking East towards Edison Lake (Can't see due to low water), shinny point is water from the South Fork of the San Joaquin River. Looking Southeast (L. to R.) Kings Canyon National Park, Mt. Givens, White Bark Vista, Kaiser Pass and Potter Pass w/3 Sisters.

Photo, View from Tower to the South Photo, View from Tower to the Southwest

Looking South towards Kaiser Peak. Looking Southwest towards RAWS Station (Rt. forground) and flat ridgeline is Wiskey Ridge

Photo, View from Tower to the West Photo, View from Tower to the Northwest

Looking West before the cell tower, towards (L. to R.) Rocky Ridge, Eagle Beak, Big Shuteye (L.O.), Little Shuteye Pass and Little Shuteye. Looking Northwest towards (L. to R.) Fuller Buttes, Jackass Rock, Balls, Squaw Dome, Ballon Dome, Rockey Ridge line and the Southeast border of Yosemite National Park.

Photo, View of cell tower on Mount Tom

Looking West at Ponderosa Phone Co. cell tower on top of Mount Tom

Photos courtesy of Tom Payne lookout at Mt. Tom Lookout, all rights reserved.

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This page last updated on January 28, 2009.

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