A Breathtaking View from Thunder Mountain's 80-foot Observation Tower
If you think you have seen everything here at the Lake of the Ozarks, but you have not yet climbed the observation tower in Thunder Mountain Park , then we've got an amazing lake view in store for you. This bird's-eye-view of the entire park, as well as the gorgeous lake, is a site that no one visiting our Lake of the Ozarks scenic attraction should miss. The observation tower at the top of Thunder Mountain is operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation and completely open to the public. This fire tower is 100-feet tall, with a viewing platform at 80-feet. The History of Missouri's Fire Towers Due to the abundance of forests in Missouri, the state began putting up these fire towers on ridges and hilltops. They allowed people to see for miles, keeping a lookout for lines of smoke that would indicate a forest fire. These wooden fire towers began going up as early as 1927 in state parks, but there were not a lot of them. The federal government got inv...