The Needles are a cluster of massive granite spires and outcrops in California’s Sequoia National Forest, rising above the North Fork of the Kern River near its junction with the Little Kern River in the southern Sierra Nevada. Known for their dramatic setting above the Kern country, the formations also held the Needles Lookout at 8,245 feet. Built in 1937 and 1938 by the Civilian Conservation Corps during a period of widespread remote fire detection construction in western forests, the lookout stood atop the rocks until it was destroyed by a structure fire on July 28, 2011. The granite formations remain the defining feature of the site.