Vetter Mountain is located in the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Tr ...

and within the

Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) of the United States Forest Service, U.S. Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County in southern Calif ...

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Elevation feet. Named by

USFS The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

surveyor Don McLain (c. 1933) for Victor P. Vetter (nd.), a dedicated

forest ranger A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a law enforcement person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Description "Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in thi ...

and fire dispatcher. Vetter won the USFS Bissell Medal for outstanding work in forest conservation (1930). The

Silver Moccasin Trail The Silver Moccasin Trail is a trail located in the San Gabriel Mountains, northeast of Los Angeles. It begins at Chantry Flat Recreation Area above the city of Arcadia, California, traversing upward and down through several canyons and along the ...

crosses the mountain on its eastern slopes.

Fire lookout

Vetter Mountain is the site of historic Vetter Mountain fire lookout tower, a ground mounted BC-3 type cab. The lookout tower was built in 1937 and remained in service until 1981. Ramona Merwin, a USFS

fire lookout A fire lookout (partly also called a fire watcher) is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a ...

staffed the tower from 1953 until its closing. The tower was slated to be moved to the Chilao Visitors Center, but a group of active citizens in cooperation with the Forest Service were able to rebuild, restore, and return the tower to operational service in 1998. The tower was operated by the

Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association The Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association (" ANFFLA") is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization of citizen volunteers dedicated to the preservation, restoration and operation of the fire lookout towers in the Angeles National Forest, ...

(ANFFLA) citizen volunteers in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service until it was destroyed on August 31, 2009, by the Station Fire. In the years since the fire, the volunteers have been manning a temporary lookout at the base of the steps to the original lookout, keeping watch over the forest. The

(ANFFLA) volunteers began the rebuilding of the fire lookout on July 12, 2014, with a "bucket brigade," pouring a new concrete pad on which to build a new lookout structure, using the original 1930s historic design. Construction was completed in 2020. The lookout overlooks several segments of the

Angeles Crest Highway The Angeles Crest Highway is a two-lane (one lane of travel in each direction) highway over the San Gabriel Mountains, in Los Angeles County, California. Its route is to/through the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Angeles Nationa ...

, and has a clear view of Mount Wilson to the south, and Mount Pacifico to the north.

Charlton Flats

Charlton Flats is a

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

grounds located to northeast face of Vetter Mountain, about 40 minutes drive from the Interstate 210. The picnic area has about 185 tables and stoves and is open April 1 through November 15. The original name of the area was Pine Flat when it was renamed to Charlton Flats in honor of the "new" forest service's first forest supervisor, Mr. R.H. Charlton. Mr. Charlton served as the

supervisor from 1905 to 1925 (20 years).

References

San Gabriel Mountains Mountains of Los Angeles County, California Angeles National Forest Mountains of Southern California {{LosAngelesCountyCA-geo-stub

External links

Vetter Mountain Fire Lookout Historical Marker

Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association