Lyons Peak is a prominent mountain in

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

. The top of the mountain is enclosed in an almost rectangular patch of

Cleveland National Forest Cleveland National Forest is a National forest (United States), U.S. national forest in Southern California that encompasses 460,000 acres/ of inland Montane ecosystems, montane regions. It is approximately 60 miles from the Pacific Ocean, withi ...

. An old

fire lookout tower A fire lookout tower, fire tower, or lookout tower is a tower that provides housing and protection for a person known as a " fire lookout", whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit ...

is located at the peak. Lyons Peak is located on restricted land and trespassing is prohibited. The peak's toponym honors

Nathaniel Lyon Nathaniel Lyon (July 14, 1818 – August 10, 1861) was a United States Army officer who was the first Union Army, Union General officer, general to be killed in the American Civil War. He is noted for his actions in Missouri in 1861, at the beginn ...

(1818–1861). As an army captain, he passed by the peak in 1851 while scouting a new route east to the desert.Priscilla Lister (2016), ''Take a Hike: San Diego County'', Archway Publishing,

References

Mountains of San Diego County, California Mountains of Southern California {{SanDiegoCountyCA-geo-stub