Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee NG · Colorado
Overview The Mestaa’ėhehe (pronounced mess-taw-HAY) Mountain Fire Lookout is located directly off of Colorado Highway 103 west of Bergen Park and sits at the summit of Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain, which is an active communication tower site in Clear Creek County. In addition to being an active communication site, the area is a popular dispersed recreation use area with hiking, recreational shooting, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and camping. The lookout is a unique structure constructed of native granite which is situated at over 11,000 feet elevation and was built in the 1940s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Sites at Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain Fire Lookout are reserved through Recreation.gov. Sites here can be reserved in advance through the official system, and they are claimed fast — cancellations then trickle back all season, unannounced, at any hour of the day or night.
| Total sites | 1 |
|---|---|
| Location | Idaho Springs, CO |
| Book through | Recreation.gov |
| Official listing | Recreation.gov |
Because sites are booked months ahead, a steady share of reservations get cancelled as trips fall through. Each cancellation instantly returns that site and those nights to the official calendar — first-come, first-served, no waitlist, no announcement. Refreshing the booking page yourself, every few minutes for weeks, works in theory. In practice, the people who get these sites are the ones who hear about the opening first.
ItOpened scans the Recreation.gov calendar for Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain Fire Lookout around the clock. When a site matching your dates and your vehicle opens, you get a text with a direct link to it. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the normal price. We never book, hold, or resell — your fee pays for monitoring, and openings are first-come, so speed is the whole game.
| Stillwater (Colorado) | Cancellation alerts available |
|---|---|
| Arapaho Bay | Cancellation alerts available |
| Green Ridge | Cancellation alerts available |
| Dowdy Lake | Cancellation alerts available |
| Mountain Park | Cancellation alerts available |
| Olive Ridge | Cancellation alerts available |
| Pawnee | Cancellation alerts available |
| Chambers Lake | Cancellation alerts available |
| Columbine Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Kelly Dahl | Cancellation alerts available |
| Cold Springs - Arapaho Roosevelt NF (CO) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Camp Dick | Cancellation alerts available |
| West Lake | Cancellation alerts available |
| Meeker Park Overflow Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Bellaire Lake Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Idlewild Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Echo Lake | Cancellation alerts available |
| Guanella Pass | Cancellation alerts available |
| Rainbow Lakes Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| St. Louis Creek | Cancellation alerts available |
| Ansel Watrous | Cancellation alerts available |
| Peaceful Valley | Cancellation alerts available |
| West Chicago Creek | Cancellation alerts available |
| Crow Valley | Cancellation alerts available |
| Narrows (Co) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Stove Prairie | Cancellation alerts available |
| Clear Lake Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Pickle Gulch | Cancellation alerts available |
| Buckhorn Ranger Station | Cancellation alerts available |
| Jacks Gulch | Cancellation alerts available |
| Cutthroat Bay Group | Cancellation alerts available |
| Redfeather Ranger Station | Cancellation alerts available |
| AA Bar Ranch (AA Barn) Group Picnic Site | Cancellation alerts available |
| Midland Group Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| South Fork Group Site - Arapaho NF (CO) | Cancellation alerts available |
| Stub Creek Cabin | Cancellation alerts available |
| Willow Creek Group | Cancellation alerts available |
Page data refreshed 2026-10-29. Site facts come from the official directory listing for Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain Fire Lookout; cancellation statistics come from our own scanning logs.