Elk Mountain Fire Tower

Elk Mountain Fire Tower is located 33 miles southwest of the town of Custer, and about .50 miles east of the Wyoming border. It is at an elevation of 5,662 feet. The tower was built between 1939-1941, has 90 steps, and is about 67 feet high. There have been several fires on Elk Mountain, including a fire that burned over 13,195 acres, along with the cabin, outhouse, and lot of the trees in the early 2000’s. Later in 2011, another 7,456-acres were burned. The Tower remains active today and is usually manned from late spring to early fall.

This tower took awhile to get to and the road was not the greatest in some parts. Although there were large open spaces, the area for the most part was just okay - mostly prairie. On the road to the tower you go in and out of South Dakota and Wyoming a couple of times. When we were there, an outhouse was available to use, and no one was manning the fire tower.