Hike Info:
Type: Lookout
Description:
Today and tomorrow may be the last days this year which we will be able to work in a lookout this year. The season is coming to an end with only two fires noted in our area; the Buck Rock Foundation has been asked to keep the lookout open until the first rain or two gives the earth a good soaking. But our calendar does not match up well with openings. There is still a slim chance we will be up here again.
October 17, 2017
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| Our morning view to the west-smoke, but not ours |
We get up to the lookout at a few minutes after 0900. Looked around and looked at the white board to see if anything exciting has happened-no close fires or anything like that to worry about. Took the weather and got stuff loaded up the 80’ to the cabin.We go inservice at 0931, on time, well almost.
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| Clouds to the east, but no rain |
Sherri gets a call from Kathy-Sierra’s radio communications is having some issues. But we seem to be talking ok with them. We go into the routine of scanning and listening to the radio. Sherri and I talk about how we responded to our fire on Sept 12th. So we walked through how we spotted it, how we located it on the maps and how to figure out the precise location of the fire. In this case, we had full visibility of the fire, and the burn mark is still there so it is easy to reenact it.
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| Spanish Mountain basking in sun |
Lunch comes and we have Peanut Butter sandwiches. Kings Canyon is having a prescribed burn east of Cedar Grove around Roads End. So we add SEKI to our channels we listen to. They do a test burn at 1215 and declare it a success at 1315. Then it is on to the real burn. We do not see any smoke from that fire, nor do we expect to see any. It is a ways away and we have several ridges which block our view. The smoke would have to go awfully high for us to see it. It is 25+ miles away and the smoke would need to climb over 8,000’ for it to be visible. I suspect the burn boss would have a fit if we reported the smoke.
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| Just an interesting looking cloud towards evenign |
One of the things which we have issues with is accurately hearing what is on the radio. Particularly the latitude and longitude given. These are mostly used to give the location of a fire. Most of the time the fire is way outside of our viewing, but it is a good idea to get the information anyway. So we practice hearing and locating where fires are-some places close like Davis Flat, or Park Ridge or Buck Rock. But then I threw a few curves at Sherri: Mt Whitney and Finger Peak-not Rock. I think we are getting better at this.
Sherri reads and takes a nap. Then it is my turn. Nothing exciting. Sierra is repairing a repeater at the lookout across the way and gets it back online at 1600-that is our excitement. So at 1700, we go out of service. But we do look at the topo map for Verplank today and try to follow the drainages in our area. A good exercise.
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| Evening View |
Dinner is Digiorno Pizza, I make a comment on Facebook that when we stay at the lookout we dine in “high” fashion and with rather exclusive ambience. This refers to we are 80’ up and have a rather nice red tinted clouds to gaze at. Wendy suggests we should make Delilah into a revolving cabin for the lookout. I really like that woman.
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| Looking west and the sunset |
Not much else for today. We sort of do a few things, like read or catch up on e-mails. Around 2100 Sherri hears a helicopter. Looks like it is heading down the Kings to Fresno. Getting close to 2200 and time for bedtime.
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October 18, 2017
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| Lowering our belongings |
Woke up around 0600 and watched the sky change from black to blue when I got up at 0645. Restful morning. But is looks hazy outside and when I open the door, there is a definite smoke smell. But after looking around, the source of the smoke is not close, at least not visible. There is an inversion about at our level, 5200’ which I suspect is trapping the smoke from the prescribed burn east of Cedar Grove. When Sherri get up, we have our breakfast of oatmeal. Then get the cabin cleaned up and tote stuff down to the car before starting a new day.
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| Morning smoke haze |
At 0930 we go inservice after taking the lookout weather. Nothing really exciting here. Sierra’s radio communications seem to be doing better. We are using our normal channels to go in-service and communicate with them. But there does seem to have some static there.
With the smoke and haze we have pretty limited visibility, about 4-7 miles from the lookout, vs the 15-20 which we expect. So between scans, I wash windows and the solar panels. A small bit of excitement in that there is a fire at Yosemite Lakes-a car and vegetation fire. That is 40 miles away, so well outside of even our normal visibility.
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| More haze |
Lunch comes along and it is peanut butter sandwiches again. Then back to scanning again. Oh yeah, and taking our 1300 lookout weather. This is where mistakes can happen. Where I become complacent because nothing is happening. I wonder how a soldier on sentry duty remains vigilant night after night after night? With me, it is rushing through the scans. What makes this even more difficult is the amount of haze cuts down our viewing area. So when I look across the way, it is difficult to peer through the haze to distinguish anything on the other side of the Kings. So it becomes easy to go quickly over an area because 1) nothing happens and 2) even if something happens, could we even see it?
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| Clouds and a break in the haze |
The inversion layer has dissipated. So instead of a layer of smoke, we get blanketed by a white-gray haze. Towards the end of the day, the west side becomes almost impossible to see beyond about 2 miles. Tivy has been gone for awhile. Cannot see the antenna’s on top of Bear Mountain. But we are seeing a bit more of Park Ridge and across the Kings.
Kathy calls and wants some materials concerning the Davis Fire from Sept 12th. So I gathered the appropriate logs and reports. We will meet when we go out of service tonight.
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| More clouds, but low haze |
After doing the 1600 lookout check-in with Sierra-only two lookouts on duty, we also get the next day’s fire weather and indices. Sherri starts to clean up, including mopping and stuff. I just get out of her way and make myself useful doing scan’s. Around 1630, Sherri starts to take stuff down to the car. This is like packing stuff from the 8th floor of a hotel with no elevator. But she only makes the trip once. Because now she also cleans the outhouse. The only people who use this are the lookouts, so it is not too bad, at least I am not doing it. I busy myself by starting to close out the lookout for the night and doing scans. A little after 1700, I go out of service with both Sierra and Sequoia National Forests.
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| Evening approaching. Our last view |
On my way to put the keys back, I come across this strange little creature* having jumped and rustled some leaves. Don’t know what it is. By 1720, we are in the car and heading out. We are to meet Kathy at Hills Valley Rd at 1830. But we almost don’t make it. Going down 180, a deer jumps in front of the car. Fortunately, I was going slow enough and the guy behind me while close, was not that close when I applied the brakes. The only thing harmed was my heart and Sherri’s throat from the strangled scream. We meet Kathy and give her what she wants-I feel so much like Deep Throat handing off Delilah secrets. . Then off to Fresno where we have dinner at DiCicco’s before getting home at 2030.
Sherri and I both think it will be a long Winter if we do not get to go back up to Delilah before it closes. But it is good that we have been able to go up there this Fall.
Background
*Some friends of our identified this as the larvae of a grasshopper. Nothing like I have seen before, but it makes sense.
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| Interesting Cloud |
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| Looking Northwest over White Deer |
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| Westward towards Tivy and Bear mtns |
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| McKenzie and Park Ridges |
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| Gary hauling up a sleeping bag |
Animals
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| Hummingbird |
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| Hummingbird |
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| Grasshopper larvae |
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