Hunter Mountain Fire Tower, Fire lookout tower on Hunter Mountain in Greene County, United States.
Hunter Mountain Fire Tower is a steel fire lookout tower on the summit of Hunter Mountain in Greene County, New York, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. From the top, visitors can see across a wide stretch of the Catskill Mountains and the forest below.
An earlier wooden tower stood on the mountain before being replaced by the current steel structure in 1917. The tower was moved to its present position at the very top of the peak in 1953, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The tower is part of a network of fire lookout structures that once covered New York State, and seeing them together tells a broader story about how communities protected their forests. Volunteers greet visitors at the cab and explain what daily observation work actually looked like.
Two hiking trails lead to the tower: the blue-marked Spruceton Trail and the shorter yellow-marked Colonel's Chair Trail. Both routes involve uneven terrain, so sturdy footwear is a good idea, especially after rain.
Hunter Mountain sits high enough that snow can linger on the summit well into early summer, making conditions unpredictable for hikers. The cab sits above the tree line, so on a clear day the view from inside reaches much farther than one might expect from a forested peak.
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