Buck Rock Lookout

Located in the Sequoia National Forest, Buck Rock Lookout sits perched atop a granite dome and offers a breathtaking view of the Great Western Divide and other spectacular high mountain peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Access to the top is via a series of stair flights (consisting of 172 steps) suspended from the side of the rock.  The current lookout building was constructed in 1923 and is historically significant as a representation of the earliest 4-A style live-in cabs of which there are only three in existence in the world today.

Why is the lookout named Buck Rock?  Legend has it that if you look at the rock from a certain angle, you can see the profile of an Indian warrior.  In times gone by, we use to call male Indians “bucks” – thus the name.  Native Americans referred to the rock as “Finger Rock”.

At a Glance