Fire Tower Camping in Wyoming

Fire Tower Camping – Spruce Mountain Fire Lookout

I had never heard of fire tower camping until last year when my sister invited me to join her at Spruce Mountain Fire Lookout. It’s located in southeastern Wyoming about an hour west of Laramie/two hours northwest of Fort Collins. The 55 foot tower was used as a fire lookout station until 1997. Now decommissioned, Spruce Mountain fire lookout is available to the public to rent for nightly stays between June and September.

Spruce Mountain Fire Lookout – Reservations

You must make a reservation to stay at Spruce Mountain Fire Lookout. Reservations open in April and fill quickly. Make your reservations online here:

Spruce Mountain Fire Lookout Tower Reservations and Info

Getting to Spruce Mountain Fire Lookout Tower

Use the map below to get directions from your location to Spruce Mountain fire lookout tower (click the view larger map icon, then click the fire tower icon).

Once you pass Albany Wyoming (the last town you’ll drive through if you’re coming from the Laramie area) the paved road ends and you’ll be driving on a dirt road for the remainder of the trip. Even the dirt road is very drivable–I didn’t have any problems in my 2WD vehicle. The image below shows the view once the road narrows closer to the fire tower:

Facilities at Spruce Mountain Fire Lookout Tower

The tower has two single beds/mattresses, and a small table with chairs. There were also a handful of things that we didn’t use: a propane heater and stove/oven, a small amount of cookware, utensils and dishes, some cleaning supplies, and propane lights.

There is an outhouse/pit toilet inside the gate near the parking area:

Preparation and what to bring:

Fire tower camping is just that–camping–so bring what you would bring for any camping trip: sleeping bag/pillow, flashlights/headlamps, plenty of water, food, toilet paper, soap, etc. You’re expected to clean up after yourself and take all your trash with you when you leave, so don’t forget garbage bags.

Fire Tower Camping – My Experience at Spruce Mountain Lookout

We stayed at Spruce Mountain lookout fire tower in early August and enjoyed nearly-perfect weather.

Making several trips up these stairs with my sleeping bag, water, food, etc. was the lowlight of the trip…haha. There actually is a rope and pulley hoist outside the tower, but we didn’t use it.

Once you make it to the top there’s a deck that goes around the entire structure.

And if you look through the slats you can see alllll the way to the bottom. 🙂

The views from the deck were spectacular, with the ability to see miles and miles in all directions (makes sense, as its previous use as a fire lookout!).

A view of Rob Roy Reservoir from the deck at sunset:

The highlight of the fire tower camping trip for me was practicing astrophotography at night. With very little light pollution, it’s an ideal spot to capture images of the stars and milky way.

Though there were quite a few clouds initially, after waiting a bit they finally cleared and I was able to get a nice shot of the milky way.

The temperature inside the tower stayed comfortable throughout the night, and I had a mattress to sleep on, so it’s hard to complain. Watching the sunrise from above the trees was another fire tower camping highlight.

Overall I loved fire tower camping at Spruce Mountain! I wish I would have had more time to explore the area, but that’s a good reason to make another visit! 🙂

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