August 15, 2019 - Delilah Lookout

Title: August 15, 2019 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Menu : Animals 

Trail head: Delilah Lookout

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

There is a sense of timelessness when you are in a lookout, particularly after several days up here without seeing others, besides yourself and your wife. I woke up this morning wondering what day it was. And then wondering does it really matter?

Early morning Moon

 

Not saying there is no time element here, as there is: 0910-take the weather; 0930 go inservice; 1000-listen for today’s weather and staffing; 1100-check in with Sierra; 1300-take the weather; 1600-weather and lookout check in; 1800-go out of service. Still other times, there is nobody checking in on you. And then one day being interchangeable with the next leaves one a bit disoriented chronologically. I like it.

This morning, I wake up before 0600 and just enjoy the early morning. We have not been in a lookout for four straight days before and I am looking forward to experiencing it as well as going home this evening. I wash up this morning, but why? Only Sherri is here and she is in the same situation. For all of the visitors coming my way? Only person whom we have seen is Zach on Tuesday delivering a part. Still, I feel better for it.

Moon setting over Bear Mouontain

Sherri is waking up, but she feels it is way too early to actually move. A luxury we have up here, watching the glow of the sunrise. Then a hummingbird pops up making the perfect setting. So good that God gives these moments of beauty, even for an audience of one. My lesson today is to learn to cherish such times as His gift to me.

Breakfast is the normal stuff-oatmeal. Then we start getting the excess gear down to the truck, some go down via the pulley system rigged up at Delilah by some enterprising and talented engineers and engineer wanna be’s. But some go down via air express. one actual hits the target-the bed of the truck.

Laundry Service at Delilah

Kathy has expressed some concern about us being up here four days in solitude.But I do not see why. I think things are pretty normal, at least for me. Sherri forgot to bring down last night’s pee can for emptying. So I transform from being Window-Washer Guy-vision an ugly male Wonder Woman now doing her twirl-to PeeCan Man as he races down the stairs with his hazardous canister to the outhouse. After this, he goes takes a lap around the lookout before being driven back by the flies to the safety of the lookout. But here he finds a new deadly peril, a huge ugly bug has Sherri cornered. Never fear! PeeCan Man is here. He swifty captures the bug and throws it to the breeze outside of Delilah’s cabin. He can now return to being a mild mannered retiree, hoping his eyesight is good enough to see a wisp of smoke.

It is now 0900. Time to the lookout ready for its purpose. More of the same: weather, go into service, listen to weather and staffing-staffing is pretty sparse today, only the duty officer and an engine from down south.

Let me just say, this paragraph is more of a warning to myself than anything else. The incident which is talked about was probably a training drill which got overheard. We got a phone call which asked had we heard about the control burn which got away? Also one fire fighter got burnt over 20% of his body. It was said that this was heard on a channel we do not normally monitor at Delilah. But the incident was said to have happened within an area which is under our general viewing. The particular place where the prescribed burn was said to take place was behind a ridge, where we cannot see. But we have seen a smoke there before once a fire got going. We kept looking in the direction, but could not see anything. I texted Kathy and Wendy asking if they had heard. These two have lots of contacts and they started calling around. None of them had heard of this incident, nor did I see anything on WildCAD about a prescribed burn. After Wendy and Kathy investigated, the conclusion was that maybe what was overheard was on a radio channel which is used for training. Lesson for Gary: When you hear something, observe - think - report. Just like one of the signs at Delilah says.

While this is going on, we also heard of a smoke report-which got changed to a smoke check-on the Sierra side of things. Usually Sierra lookouts are paid professionals and when they report a fire it is spot on with the description and location. But they also have volunteers over there as well. This smoke report was a lesson for me in how not to do a report. Just from the sound and the uncertainty of the report, it sounded more like a smoke check. Then Sierra dispatch had the lookout confirm the azimuth. It was 20 degrees different from the first reporting and I think the distance was different as well. Also he was not sure about the color of the smoke-was it white or brown? This makes a difference on if it is a vegetation fire or dust being kicked up by machinery. Three engines were sent out to see if they could find something. In the 15-30 minutes for them to arrive, even the lookout could not see the original cloud. Gary’s Lesson: When reporting a smoke, be as accurate as the circumstances allow. What you do not know, don’t oversell.

We have visitors! Three of them from Los Angeles and their dog named Buddha. They had gone up to Buck Rock yesterday and was told about Delilah. So they made their long trip from Dorst to Delilah. So good! They stayed over an hour. Got to talk about the history of Delilah, the Rough Fire and and different aspects of being a lookout. They seemed to survive us pretty well.

Wendy also sent out a congratulations on a good job to Park Ridge for yesterday’s smoke report on the Highway Fire. And then things quieted down again. We took the weather reading a bit late, around 1330. And then continued our scans-even with the visitor’s here we would look around and eyeball the area. Listening to the Sierra radio, the Peak Fire is getting a lot of attention. Looking at WildCAD, it still is pretty small, but hard to get to.

The next couple of hours go by fast and it is getting close to 1600 when Sherri and I will shut down Delilah early. At 1550 we go out of service before Sierra and Porterville do their lengthy reports. By 1620 we are in the truck and on the way back to Fresno. At 1810 we arrive back at the house, ready for a shower and dinner out at Casa Quintero. Sherri is watering the plants-it is our night to do it. By 2200, I am in bed, reading and ready to sleep. Sherri must have more energy because I am long asleep before she joins me. A long, but good four days. I am glad we extended our stay.

Trail Lesson: 

Cherish times of beauty as a gift from God.

When you hear something, observe - think - report. Just like one of the signs at Delilah says.

Menu

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Ritz Crackers, Peanut Butter, Nutella	Casa Quintero	Cheese, jerky

Animals

No matter how early this hummer is, it will not get the sugar water

Faun