I got up a little after 0600 and got ready to go to Park Ridge Lookout. I already did the lightning report last night and today might be exciting in our area with all of the strikes. I get off a little before 0700. As I passed by Centerville, I realized that I forgot the string cheese-only a minor inconvenience. At Yokut/Squaw Valley, there is construction going on-a known quantity-and so I am delayed another 15 minutes. I zoomed through the Park’s entrance station-after all I am sort of like a Park person, not quite, but close enough. Then up the Panoramic Point Road to the Park Ridge Service Road. Then another 20 minutes and I am at the lookout. Not a lot to unload after all I am here for only a day. There is even less than anticipated-I forgot my lunch and snack food. In my day pack there are a couple energy bars and some Life Savers to keep me from dying from hunger, as if my body fat would let me down.
The cab is hot, but starts cooling down once I open the windows and the door. I suppose that is the reason why we do not live in glass houses with a tin roof. I take the weather and go in-service by 0930. I talked with Buck Rock about yesterday and also about the status of radios-we still are under channel restrictions. Then it is the start of a normal day. Still no weather or staffing at 1000. I go about my lookout business, scanning the area and listening to the radio and making sure I remember where things are in the 1,000 square miles of area which I scan.
A couple from Seattle admires the view from the lookout. We talk for a while about prescribed burns and life as a lookout. They are now going to try to find a lookout to rent as a vacation spot for them.
While scans can be routine and a bit mind numbing, if you let yourself be open to what you are seeing, there can be times of wonder and amazement. On one of my scans, I see this magnificent bird approaching. Probably a hawk, probably a red-tail since they are in the area, but the markings looked like a Cooper, not that I am an expert or anything, and it came right towards me proudly showing its breast feathers. This is one of those times in which it is better to stand in awe than try to get a picture.
Around 1045 Patrol 33 calls me. She is wondering about the lightning report and what was reported around Buck Rock. Yesterday when she was in Kings Canyon, she was looking up the south walls and thought she saw some smoke. But nobody else seemed to see it. We talked about where the lightning was. I told her about a strike about a mile north of Buck Rock and gave her the legal location for it. Then talked about importing the report into Avenza. But she had some technical difficulties, so we could not work through it.
But both of these lead up to how the rest of the afternoon is. Patrol 33 goes to the Kings Canyon Overlook. Even though the Overlook is less than three miles away, it has a totally different view than what I see. She spots a great deal of smoke beyond Buck Rock, someplace around Tornado Meadow. That is an area which is blind to Buck Rock. So Patrol 33 starts to make her way towards the area.
There is a hang glider off to the west, I am assuming it launched from Sontag.
Meanwhile the Park has told Porterville about a fire on top of Poop Out Pass. It is called the Pass Fire. A couple years ago there was a fire on that pass which originally was called the Poop Fire, at least for overnight. I noticed on that one, the name got changed. So calling it the Pass Fire does not surprise me. While the helicopter is in the air, Division 3 has them fly over to the Pass Fire and take pictures and do a size up for him. It is a single tree with little or no vegetation around it. So it is not going anywhere. I could not see the smoke as it was behind a ridge from Shell Mtn.
Now that these areas are not being as much of an issue, I try to put more effort into cab life. To be clear, even while all of this is going on, I have been scanning and doing my lookout stuff, but there is a certain amount of focus on something active like this. But since it is after 1700 and I intended to go home at 1800, I do clean up chores to end the day.
Finally at 1750, I am doing my
last scan and as I walk around the catwalk, at the very end of the
scan, I see some discoloration looking towards Loggers
Poin
t. I
stare at it for a while and decide it is smoke. It looks like it is
about 2.5 miles from the lookout, just to the south of a direction
line to Loggers. I call Division 3 on this as it looks like it may
have been part of the Big Stump Rx-turns out it was not. Division 3
wants a bit more info on location. When I looked again, the smoke
looked like it moved ¾ of a mile closer. So I revised my location.
Division 3 thinks this may be a new wildland fire. Was there
lightning in the area? No, not yesterday. Another unit wonders if
this is drift smoke from the Park Ridge RX. It does not look like it.
But then I look over where I saw the smoke ten days ago. There is the
same patch of white through the trees. It is drift smoke, which is a
good thing because it is a known quantity. . I have my own “sneaky”
smoke.
First signs of a smoke
At 1755 I had gone out of
service with the Park. Now that my smoke is resolved, I go out of
service at 1812. By 1820, I was in the car ready to go down the
mountain. The battery on my phone has died, so I finally get enough
charge by the time I get to Grant Grove that I send out texts to
various people. I got home about 2020, tired. But there is no rest
for the wicked as I need to pack for a trip to my daughter's
tomorrow. I still manage to take a shower and am in bed by 2200.
Smoke is a bit closer
 |
| Hawk of some type |
 |
| Same Hawk |
 |
| Unknown |
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