August 19, 2024 - Delilah Lookout

 

Title: August 19, 2024 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Animals

Hike Info:

Type:Lookout

 

Description:

My welcoming committee and escort

Got up at 0520 and saw that there was no lightning in the area-which met expectations. But already there has been a bit of excitement on this trip, even before I left the house. Last night, the Ford Ranger did not start. Sherri is making arrangements to get the truck in. So I took the Highlander up to Delilah. I was already packed with only a few things left at the end. Lately, those are the things which have been my downfall. But today, I think I have everything. Addendum: Well, maybe not everything. Evidently when I was copying my needed files to the thumb drive, a whole directory was missing. Also forgot my almond milk. I guess tomorrow’s granola will be dry.

After breakfast, I am off by 0645, about 15 minutes sooner than normal. The trip up is uneventful and I arrive at 0830. Because Sherri is not with me, I only need to bring up enough stuff for one person. That means two trips up the stairs with my food, water and backpack. I will be going down again after my shift to bring up my sleeping back and some more water. Tomorrow, I start taking stuff down.

Smoke pattern from Coffee Pot

Rich, the Delilah lead lookout, texted me to say that there is a new clipboard to record some of the gauges we have up here: power, propane, water levels,… Also he mentions that a bear and its tracks have been spotted on Delilah Springs Road. A mountain lion as well. My response is, oh goody! I have never seen a mountain lion in person-I have been close enough as I have seen their tracks. Also, Sierra bears away from campgrounds are a thing of beauty. There is hope, but also doubt as we have heard this report before.

Visibility is not as bad as I feared and not as good as I hoped. The Coffee Pot Fire to the south in SEKI is puffing out a lot of smoke and it is circling around and coming up the Kings and every low place in my area. I can see the dinginess of the air because there is an inversion layer above me, maybe around 6500-7000’. At least the air is breathable.

At 0931 I go in service with both Sierra and Porterville. A few texts come my way concerning family stuff and the Ranger. It will be towed into the shop. Also Sherri is taking care of calling LG about our refrig. <sarkiness on> Ah, the pleasures of family life that I am missing being up here, suffering as the lonely fire lookout. </sarkiness off>

Inversion layer visible to the west

And then I fall into the routine of lookout like. Scanning every 15-20 minutes, listening to the radio. At 1000 the area weather and the Forest staffing comes on, and then it is back to the routine.

Coffee Pot Smoke

But wait! Around 1040, I get visitors from Fresno: George and Jennifer! They are interested in both fire lookouts as well as the view from here. They are even considering being volunteers themselves. They stick around for half an hour before leaving, apparently satisfied with their stay.

With the wind starting to blow, some of the smoke has blown away, leaving a lot better visibility. Such as I can see Mt Nelson now rather than barely seeing over Patterson Bluffs. This is to the north. To the west and east, there is still sufficient haze that I could barely see 10 miles. Wind has blown away the drifting smoke leaving an enormous smoke cloud originating where the Coffee Pot fire is from. This is 32 miles away and it is very evident where the smoke is coming from.

Not much else exciting for today. Of course the moment I say that, I spot a hang glider over Sontag Point. The glider seems to be just enjoying the loft he is getting from the evening winds. I watch him for a few minutes before continuing on my scan.

Smoke over Park Ridge

Now 1800 approaches and I go out of service with both Sierra and Porterville. My dinner is a quesadilla type meal. I do a few odd jobs to get things cleaned up. Also write up my notes for the day. Then it is off downstairs to get my sleeping bag and a few bottles of water. Now to wait around for the supermoon to arrive. While I am waiting, I go for a short walk.

The moon is to come up at 2004, but because of Park Ridge, I need to wait until 2017. Because of the CoffeePot smoke, the moon comes up an awesome blood red. It is a Wow moment. Once it rises above the smoke layer, it is the normal pale moon we are accustomed to see.

 

 

 When I get back in the tower, Sherri and I talk for an hour, about 2200. I ended up nodding off about 2240.

 
Extra Photo's

Delilah at Dusk

Coffee Pot Smoke

East looking towards Park Ridge, Verplank and Hoist in the evening

Setting sun through the trees

Evening Looks

Why is the Blue Moon Red?

Animals




 

Humming bird and feeder

October 13, 2019 - Delilah Lookout

Title: October 13, 2019 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description : Background : Menu :  Animals 

Trail head: Delilah Lookout

Hike Info:

Type:Lookout

Description:

Deer in the morning

Seemed like whichever way I turned my head last night, I ended up with a headache. Eventually got up at 0645. Just sort of mozied around until Sherri got up. Then we had breakfast and got ready for the day. It is the usual stuff as we take our stuff down to the truck-today is the last day of our three day stint up here. It might be the last day at Delilah for the season.

To back up a bit, while I said I mozied around a bit, I did enjoy the morning light coming over Park Ridge. The shadows from the ridges recede from the golden sides. The air is still and all is quiet. It is a good time to be up here, even if it is a bit cool. Or maybe the coolness helps to enliven my senses.

Deer Love

At 0929 we go in service with a low RH : of 15 to both Sierra and Porterville. We then settle down to our routine of scanning, radio listening, and identifying places. Sherri and I talk a bit about our experiences, or lack thereof, of identifying smokes. As you go through this, you learn the terrain better, so that part is faster in figuring out where the fire is. Also you understand it is good to get an approximate location out to the Forest, then give them more details. We are still working through what is a real smoke and what is an illusion.

Is there a smoke close to Nelson?

As if right on cue, Sherri sees something suspicious. Is it a smoke? Or is it a haze or something else. We start figuring out where this is-the South-Southeastern flank of Mt Nelson, probably about 17-18 miles from us. Whatever it is, looks like it is behind Poison Ridge, probably past the McKinley Grove area. But it does not look like anything is really showing. So we monitor it and continue to try to figure out what we are seeing. We get Celeste involved, but Celeste only sees trees and granite. Then Kathy calls, our expert in all such things. She gives us some recommendations, including talking to Buck Rock and Sierra’s Battalion Chief 42. Sherri calls Buck Rock, but does not see anything, so we are content to monitor. As time goes on, the haze clears out and the white rock gets more visible.

By this time, it is lunch and we have our sandwich, between scans. Our looking around continues, with not much exciting. To tell you what keeps us “entertained” is we are listening to an incident way to the south, beyond Mineral King in the Sherman Pass area. A SPOT message was received and an ambulance is sent and keeps asking for directions about where to pick up the victim. We keep wondering, where is Sherman Pass? We figure out where it is and start thinking about visiting it one of these days.

It is getting close to quitting time. As the days shorten, so does our duty houses. We will be going out of service at 1630 today. But at 1600, we hear a report off of Dinkey Road at the Bald Mountain Trailhead that there is an out of control campfire. It will be named the Glen Fire. A passing contract logger calls it in. can we see it? No, but we do look for it. Sierra is on it right away. It will take the next 7 hours to put it out, but they caught it early.

A bit of orange close to Garlic Meadow

At 1630, we go out of service, getting packed up. Sherri notes that it took awhile for us to get out of the lookout today, about 40 minutes. But thinking about it, the Glen Fire got us occupied close to quitting time, so we did not get things ready before the end of our shift. We meet Steven in Fresno and go out to Sweet Tomato’s for dinner.

This may be our last time at Delilah for the season. The next weekend is unstaffed. We are over at Park Ridge Thursday and Friday, but have told folks that if they want us over at Delilah, we are willing to shift over, whichever is more important and is harder to staff.

Background

RH. What is an RH? it is a measurement of how much humidity there is in the area. Less than 20%, the forest wants to know about it. At this level, any spark can take off, particularly in the dry grass we have at this time of year. More than about 60-70% it is awfully hard to start a natural fire

Menu

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Sandwich: Peanut Butter, Nutella	Sweet Tomato’s in Fresno	Almonds and String Chees

Animals

I see you

Not a salt lick

More deer love

Places: CA-Nelson Mountain

Nelson Mountain-10,236' (Nelson Mountain) (37.0899455, -119.0492816)
Legal: T10S, R27E, Sec 5NE

	Deg	Min	Vertical Deg	Min	Distance	Visible
Delilah	10	59	3	43	20.2	Yes
Park Ridge	347	2	2	8	26.0	Yes
Buck Rock	336	55	1	43	26.6

Nelson Lakes-9,062' (Nelson Mountain) (37.1061466, -119.0422301)
Legal: T9S, R27E, Sec 28 & 33

	Deg	Min	Vertical Deg	Min	Distance	Visible
Delilah	11	26	2	59	21.3
Park Ridge	348	23	1	37	27.0
Buck Rock	338	35	1	14	27.4

Description : Trips : References : Pictures 


Description:


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