Hiking Fire Lookouts New York: A Guide to the State’s Best Lookout Tower Hikes

Experience New York’s most spectacular fire lookouts that provide panoramic views of the Northeast’s most breathtaking landscapes

This meticulously researched guide features 40 carefully selected hikes leading to New York’s accessible fire lookout towers, from challenging Adirondack ascents to family-friendly Catskill climbs. Each trail description includes:

• Detailed trailhead directions and GPS coordinates
• Full-color topographic maps and over 200 stunning photographs
• Trail difficulty ratings and estimated hiking times
• Historical background of each fire tower
• Seasonal highlights and best times to visit

Written by seasoned outdoor journalist and AMC 4,000-footer club member Dan Szczesny, this guide helps both novice and experienced hikers safely navigate to these elevated vantage points that once served as crucial fire detection stations. Whether you’re seeking solitude in nature, a challenging workout, or the perfect sunset photo opportunity, these locations deliver amazing views of New York’s wild landscapes.

Dan Szczesny is a long-time journalist, author and librarian living in New Hampshire. He’s written several books of travel memoirs. Dan is also the Editor of Murder Ink, a series of New England-based Pulp Fiction anthologies set in or around the newsroom. Dan began his career in Buffalo, New York. Since then, he has written for a wide variety of regional and national publications, including the Main Line Times, Philadelphia Weekly, Christian Science Monitor, Princeton Packet, Pennsylvania Magazine, Appalachia Journal, New Hampshire Magazine, New Hampshire Home, Manchester Ink Link, Monadnock Underground, AMC Outdoors and Huffington Post. In 2000, he moved to New Hampshire to cover the Presidential Election for NH Associated Press. In 2001, Dan became Associate Publisher of The Hippo, now the state’s largest Arts and Entertainment journal. He’s a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s 4,000-footer club and has written extensively about the outdoors and hiking. He has camped in the Grand Canyon, hiked England’s Coast to Coast Trail and trekked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. Dan was a hiking guide and naturalist for Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center in Milton, Mass. In 2014, Dan began working as the Community Relations Specialist for Griffin Free Public Library in Auburn, N.H. He became director in 2022.