Hiking Fire Lookouts New York: A Guide to the State’s Best Lookout Tower Hikes

Hiking Fire Lookouts New York details 40 hikes that lead to climbable lookouts throughout the state. These lookouts are strategically placed on high ground, elevated even higher from the summit, to give them the best vantage point for spotting signs of fire in the broadest possible area. Fire lookouts offer the ultimate payoff in terms of views, interest, and thrill.

Dan Szczesny is a long-time journalist, author and librarian living in New Hampshire. He’s written several books of travel memoirs. Dan is also the Editor of Murder Ink, a series of New England-based Pulp Fiction anthologies set in or around the newsroom. Dan began his career in Buffalo, New York. Since then, he has written for a wide variety of regional and national publications, including the Main Line Times, Philadelphia Weekly, Christian Science Monitor, Princeton Packet, Pennsylvania Magazine, Appalachia Journal, New Hampshire Magazine, New Hampshire Home, Manchester Ink Link, Monadnock Underground, AMC Outdoors and Huffington Post. In 2000, he moved to New Hampshire to cover the Presidential Election for NH Associated Press. In 2001, Dan became Associate Publisher of The Hippo, now the state’s largest Arts and Entertainment journal. He’s a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s 4,000-footer club and has written extensively about the outdoors and hiking. He has camped in the Grand Canyon, hiked England’s Coast to Coast Trail and trekked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. Dan was a hiking guide and naturalist for Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center in Milton, Mass. In 2014, Dan began working as the Community Relations Specialist for Griffin Free Public Library in Auburn, N.H. He became director in 2022.