Whitaker Peak Lookout

Agency: Angeles National Forest
Dates: 1934-1960s?
Tower: NOTT10’- Non-battered, open timber tower, 10 ft tall
Cab: C3- USFS Region 5 1934 standard 14′ X 14′ wood cab
Status: Demolished
Elevation: 4120 ft
Topo Map: Whitaker Peak
Coordinates: 34.5675, -118.7429
References: Ron Kemnow

The lookout in 1940. Credit: National Archives.

The lookout in 1940 with one of its observers. Credit: National Archives.

Whitaker Peak lookout was located near Castaic and built in the 1930’s, administered by the Forest Service. Lookout observers included Hugh Masterson circa 1938, Irving Fitzer circa 1947, and Mathew F. Offerle, circa 1956.

The last mention of the tower was from a news article in 1960 (Oxnard Press Courier Newspaper Archives), reporting that the tower had survived a brush fire. It’s unclear when it was exactly dismantled and if the lookout was transported to Slide Mountain.

A paved road called Whitaker Peak Road (6N53) leads to the former lookout with a distance of over 4 miles one way. Theres a locked gate at the start of the trailhead from Golden State Highway. The Whitaker Peak lookout is about 30 feet lower than Whitaker Peak. In between the two points is a communications tower on another hill.

Today, nothing remains at the site except a few concrete ruins

Leftover structures of the tower

Pieces of a roadblock?

Looking northeast, the communications tower and Whitaker Peak beyond that

As expected, the views from the former lookout were panoramic and expansive. East of the busy Interstate 5, rose the Liebre Range with fine views of vivid Redrock Mountain. Looking out southeast is the broad composition of the Santa Clarita valley and Castaic Lake. Views to the northwest were spectacular with Cobblestone Mtn and the lookout tower on Slide Mountain towards the Pyramid Lake area. To the west of the lookout you can peer into the vastness of the Los Padres National Forest, with vistas of the distinctive Piru Creek gorge and the sparkling Lake Piru to the south.