Climb Above the Color

Ohio’s Old Fire Lookout Towers Still Have the Best Seat for Fall

Fall in Ohio means road trips. It means hills full of red and gold. It means people driving two hours to look at trees.

But most people stop at the overlook. Few climb higher. Across Ohio, old steel towers still stand above the forest. Rangers once used them to watch for smoke. Now Ohio’s fire lookout towers let you watch for color.

These towers are free. They are open. And in October, they give you a view no overlook can match.

A ranger once watched this same tree line for smoke. You can climb up and watch it for color instead.

Why These Towers Still Stand

Between 1924 and 1978, Ohio built more than 30 fire lookout towers. Most were built during the Great Depression by young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was one of the largest conservation efforts in American history, and Ohio’s hills were part of it.

By the early 1900s, much of Ohio’s original forest had been lost. A century of settlers, farms, and logging had cleared much of the land settlers found when Ohio became a state in 1803. These towers were part of the answer, a young nation learning to protect what it had already worked hard to use.

Rangers climbed them every day during dry seasons. They watched the tree line for smoke, standing guard over forests that were starting to grow back.

If a ranger spotted smoke, they used a tool called an alidade. It was a metal ring with a sight on top. It helped point straight at the fire and mark the angle on a map.

By the 1940s, airplanes started spotting fires instead. Towers slowly closed. The last one shut down in 1978. As America marks 250 years this year, a handful of these towers still stand, small monuments to a larger story of a country learning to care for its own land. A few still let you climb them.

The Ohio Fire Lookout Towers

Here are towers you can still visit this fall, starting with the very first one Ohio ever built.

Copperhead Fire Tower — Shawnee State Forest (1924)

This was Ohio’s very first fire tower. It sits on Copperhead Hill, over 1,200 feet up. The 60-foot steel tower gives a full 360-degree view. Shawnee State Forest is nicknamed the “Little Smokies” for its rolling hills. In fall, those hills turn deep red and orange. Visitors can climb the tower at their own risk.

Scioto Trail Fire Tower — Scioto Trail State Forest (1925)

Just down the road stands its younger sibling. Built one year after Copperhead, this 60-foot tower once cost about $1,100 to build. Together, the two towers mark the very start of Ohio’s forest fire watch program. It is also open for climbing when weather allows.

Ash Cave Fire Tower — Hocking Hills (1934)

Head north, and the hills only get taller. Hocking Hills is one of Ohio’s top fall foliage spots. Hikers already drive here to see Old Man’s Cave and Cedar Falls. Now picture climbing 80 feet above those same gorges. This tower once helped protect the same cliffs and hemlock forests people hike through today.

Mohican Fire Tower — Mohican State Forest (1934)

At 80 feet tall, this tower once allowed a single ranger to watch over 200,000 acres at once. On a clear day, the view stretched 10 miles in every direction. Because the tower is old, only six climbers are allowed on it at a time.

This one is personal for me. I climbed it with my kids over 20 years ago. My oldest was scared at first. She climbed anyway, all the way to the top. The view from up there was spectacular, and so was watching her overcome her fear to see it.

Beyond the memory, there’s a bigger reason this tower mattered. In the early 1900s, towers like this were Ohio’s front line against forest fire. A ranger in that little cab could catch smoke early and save miles of forest before it ever burned.

Mohican is already famous for its covered bridge and deep gorge. Add a fire tower you can still climb today, and it becomes a full day of fall color and history.

Blue Rock Fire Tower — Blue Rock State Forest (1937)

Keep heading east, toward Zanesville, and you’ll find the tallest one on this list. This is the tallest fire tower still standing in Ohio, at 100 feet, and the last 100-foot tower left in the state. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the stairs are open to the public, though the cab at the top stays locked. Blue Rock State Park sits around it, with a lake and miles of trails that turn gold and red every fall.

Wayne National Forest Lookout Tower — New Straitsville (1937)

Not every tower on this list has an open door. Southeast, near New Straitsville, stands one built by the Civilian Conservation Corps that same year. At 110 feet, this is the last tower still standing in the Wayne National Forest, and one of the tallest ever built in Ohio. A windstorm damaged it in 2004, and it has been closed to climbers ever since. You cannot go up, but you can still hike to its base and see it rise above the fall color.

Keystone Forest Lookout Tower — Scioto Grove Metro Park (1942, moved 2023)

If a long drive south isn’t in the cards, there’s one more option. This one is closest to home for Columbus readers. The tower first stood watch over the forests of Jackson County. In 2023, Metro Parks moved it to Scioto Grove, just south of Columbus, exactly 82 years after it went up. Climbers face 111 steep steps, but the payoff is a view of the Columbus skyline about 7 miles away. No long drive required for this piece of fall history.

A Little History of the Fire Tower

Most of Ohio’s towers went up in the 1930s. Many were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a program that put young men to work during the Great Depression. They built roads, cabins, and towers across the state.

Once a tower went up, someone had to staff it. A tower job was a lonely one. A ranger climbed up at sunrise and stayed most of the day. They watched the same view for hours, waiting for a thin line of smoke to break the tree line.

Not every old tower stayed in the woods, either. One tower even made it to the Ohio State Fair. The old Armintrout Tower, first built in Pike County in 1934, was restored and moved to the fairgrounds. It now stands behind the Smokey Bear statue, teaching new generations about fire safety.

Sizes varied widely from tower to tower. The tallest ever built in Ohio reached 100 feet. Three were built. Blue Rock is the only one still standing and open to climb. A second, at Sugar Grove, still exists but is not currently open to the public. A local group is working to restore it.

Put it all together, and the numbers tell the real story. Ohio built about 40 fire towers in all. Around 20 are still standing today. Only a handful, including those in this post, are open to the public to climb.

Go Climb One of Ohio’s Fire Lookout Towers This Fall

So which one is worth the trip? Copperhead, Scioto Trail, Ash Cave, Mohican, Blue Rock, and Keystone are all open for climbing, weather and conditions permitting. You do not need a permit or a guide, just a little nerve and a clear day.

Pick a Saturday this fall and drive to Hocking Hills, Mohican, or just south to Scioto Grove if you want to stay close to Columbus. Climb the metal steps a ranger once climbed every morning. Look out over hills, or a skyline, now painted red and gold.

The fire is gone. The view is still worth the climb.

Always check current conditions and access rules with ODNR or the Wayne National Forest before you climb, and go at your own risk.