June 16, 2024 - Bearskin Grove, Not quite

 

Title: June 16, 2024 - Bearskin Grove, Not quite

Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking 

Trail head: Junction of 13S02 and 13S45

Trail: 13S45

Destination:  Bearskin Grove

Actual Destination:  On top of a ridge on a different road

Distance:  2.25 miles

Start Time: 2:26

End Time:  4:17

Travel Time: 1:51  (1.22 mph)

Moving Time: 1:17   (1.76 mph)

Elevation Rise:  558'

Descent: 514‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,630'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Sequoia in Bearskin

Today is Father’s Day. As my Father’s Day wish it was to go hiking, particularly to a place I have not been before, Bearskin Grove. I have seen it on the map and heard it on the radio-but more in connection with the campground than the grove. Plus a couple Facebook friends went there a couple of weeks ago, so it is fresh in my mind.

We decided to go after church. But first we need to load up the car. The car had been in for a facelift after its encounter with a deer last month. We just got it back Friday. We reload it with the necessities of life: hiking boots and poles and a few other things. Then have lunch and are off by 12:30.

The drive up is without incident. It is slow though as it seems like a good many people have the same idea of going to the mountains. Also it is Sunday and Hume Lake Christian Camps are getting a new load of their campers. But we make it up to Quail Flat and then down Ten Mile Road about five miles until we see road 13S02. Surprise! A forest service road which is paved and seemingly paved to nowhere. Where it stops being paved, the Redwood Hikes website says to park. But Hume Lake has established a drop off site there for something called Wildwood. After asking about parking there, we decided to move a little ways further down 13S02.

Steven

So I lightly blame Hume Lake for my confusion which exhibited itself when I parked. The confusion you might ask? Is road 13S45 the right road? What is the right one? The right one is road 13S98 and 13S98A. This road is 13S45. Rather than go back, I decide that we can do Bearskin another day and we will see where 13S45 leads us. It looks like on the map that we will be looking across to Bearskin.

We take off at 2:30. It is amazing how late things can be if we get a late start, have slow traffic and am confused at the start. The start of the road is steep, and exposed, and steep. It feels like around a 20% grade. We shall see how long we go, but at the latest, I am looking at a 3:30 turn around time.

The good thing about climbing up steeply is that you get to see things. First, there are the Sequoias of Bearskin Grove. The next best thing to being among them, is being able to gaze at them completely. Almost all of the Sequoias which I have seen are majestic and are worthy of our admiration.

The second thing we see is Buck Rock

Buck Rock Lookout

standing guard over the area of the forest. It is really prominent above us.-about 2,000’ higher than we are. The one thing which is lacking on our trip is a view of Hume Lake. It is out there but not visible.

Once we get close to the top of the ridge, the elevation gain starts to level out. Also we enter into an area where the trees provide shade. The walking becomes a lot more pleasant. It is amazing how the road can be the same, and yet the surroundings change, making such a difference in my outlook. Something to remember that as I continue on this road of life, there will be dry spots, but be sure to have those areas of refreshment.

At the end of the ridge, the road doubles back with a horseshoe bend. We stop here and rest and enjoy the sight. We look across the Kings with a good view of Spanish Mountain. But no view of the closer Hume Lake. There are trees blocking my view of the Mt Goddard area, so we just have to be content with some of the other snow-covered mountains to the east.

We decided that since it is close to 3:30, which is my turn around time, we will turn around now. Going down has a lot less strain on my muscles. But it is a lot more jarring to my bones. The first part back gives me many stops to take pictures of the flowers, but when we reach the section which is exposed to the sun, I am ready to get down the slope a bit quicker-not fast, just quicker than to lally-gagg around.

Sherri on the trail

But Korra has other ideas than a speedy time to the car. She catches the whiff of something, which turns out to be a deer. She gives chase and runs after it. After a minute or two, Steven calls her back, but she is not responsive. We have not heard a yelp so we think she is OK, but the concern is where is she? After ten minutes she comes back to Steven. I wonder what she would do if she actually caught the deer?

We get in the car and leave at 4:30. I drive us back to Big Stump, passing the WildWood people on the way out. At Big Stump, Sherri calls in the order to Bear Mountain Pizza and then Steven takes over driving. When we get to Bear Mountain, and I am getting out of the car, I hear the shout, Gary! Looking around, there is Brianna from Snapps, our car mechanic’s receptionist. We talked for a few minutes. She warns us that it is an hour wait, but we have ordered ahead, so it is only a ten minute wait.

After being fed, Steven takes us home. Road 13S45 is definitely not a must see. Still it was a good enough walk, particularly with the flowers and seeing Buck Rock. Looking at the roads which connect with it, I think there is a connection to some of the Forest areas behind Park Ridge Lookout where we cannot see. Maybe another day when I have more energy.

 

 

Trail Lesson:

Know where you are going before you get going.

On the road of life, there will be dry spots; that is part of the journey. Appreciate those areas of refreshment.

Background

The actual directions to Bearskin Grove is: Park on paved road 13S02; there’s a pullout just a few yards past road 13S98.

Two old logging roads run through the grove. Road 13S98A climbs through the best part of the grove. The short road is open to vehicles and is in drivable condition, although it’s a little rough. The road climbs past about 10 or 12 massive sequoias, including two especially large giants on the left that have very little taper. A lot of logs are scattered around from the 2022 fuel reduction program. From Redwood Hikes

Extra Photo's

Garlic Meadow

Sequoia in Bearskin Grove

Spanish Mountain on the right

 
Flowers and Plants

Snow Plant

Mountain Misery

Penstomen

Hartweg Lily

Mariposa Lily

June 9, 2024 - Delilah

 

Title: June 9, 2024 - Delilah

Delilah in the Morning

Hike Info : Description :   Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

Once again a 0500 wake up. But I did lay in bed until 0520. Then did the lightning report-only three strikes yesterday, two up near Marion Peak and one close to Cloud Canyon. After that I get packed to leave today. Then my morning granola breakfast-I think I poured too much out. I had my quiet time, including a reading from John Bailie’s book A Diary of Private Prayer.

Then it is time for a walk. I reached the foot of Delilah a little after 0800 and set out. This is my first real walk along the road on this trip. The thing which strikes me immediately is how the flowers are out. This is a lovely time to be at Delilah. Something which strikes me as I look at these flowers is first, nobody else may be seeing them but me. They may wilt and disappear before others do my walk along the road. But then the second thought is, how many flowers bloom and nobody sees them? Anywhere. I look over miles of area where few or no one goes and surely, there are flowers blooming there. Are they wasted beauty? And then I see a tiger swallowtail. Another thing of beauty. Is all of this beauty wasted? Why have beauty if humans are not around to comprehend it? I suspect the answer is someplace that we humans are residual beneficiaries of beauty. All is created for God’s enjoyment and amusement. Maybe when we see beauty it is a glimpse into the world which could have been instead of the fallen world which I inhabit. O Lord! Help me to remember that what I am in awe with, you are surrounded by. Our extraordinary beauty you have us catch a glimpse of is because it is a reflection of you.

Enough now, I have a job to do, even if it is a volunteer job. And it is 0900. Time to get the weather going and prepare for John’s arrival. Before I can do the weather he arrives. So I have him do the things which I would normally do-take the weather, raise the flag and go in-service.

While yesterday was training a brand new lookout, today is a returning lookout. Over the Winter there is a tendency for rust to build up, particularly if the person is a new lookout. So the Buck Rock Foundation wants all returning lookouts to have at least a half day refresher with a trainer. That is what we will do today. We talked and walked through the radios and how to do things. About 1145 Buck Rock comes on and wonders if we heard Porterville respond to her going in service. I have John handle the responses to this. To me the most scary thing about the lookout is the radio usage. It usually takes me a little while before I feel like I am not a babbling idiot when I talk.

Hummers

We also go over how to set up the radios. Since the handheld is new, we talk about how the objectives are the same, it is more a matter of going through a bit different procedure. Fortunately there is a good cheat sheet on how to do this.

Then it is on to looking at landmarks and helping him identify places. We go through how to report a fire while mimicking a smoke report. This includes map reading which is where a lot of people need to refresh their map reading skills.

View of Eshom

Around 1300 John leaves and I have the next five hours in the cab alone, just me, the hummingbirds, and the radio. I am getting back into the rhythm of doing scans every 15 minutes. Until yesterday, I had not made hummingbird water and now I go for a second chance at it.

At 1430 I see some clouds of white through the haze in the Eshom area. I am not sure if they are clouds or smoke. While not terribly far on a clear day with the haze I cannot discern what I am seeing. If Park Ridge was in-service, I would have called them, but they are not. I ask Buck Rock what she is seeing. She does not see what I am seeing, but said when she drove in she saw a few patches of smoke from a prescribed burn they did a few days ago. So I let it go and just monitored the area. Turns out that was wise. Later on in the day, the haze lifted and the white splotches were still there-chunks of granite.

On the whole, doing scans can be routine. But then again, I am easily distracted. There's an interesting outcropping! Over here I am seeing something which I had not seen before. Is that a vehicle moving down Davis Road? And then there are the birds. As I am looking towards the west, I spot a magnificent large bird. I think it is an eagle. When I lower the binoculars to check to make sure where it is, the eagle takes a dive, not to be seen again.

At 1500 my time of tranquility ends. Buck Rock calls and asks if I am listening on the CalFire channel. No, should I? There is a fire breaking in back of Dunlap called the Bar Fire, only 6 miles from me. But Dude Ridge blocks my view of it, so I just listen on the radio. Shortly afterwards, I hear Porterville calling out firefighters to respond.

Bar Fiew

I called the next lookout who will be coming in tomorrow just to let them know the status of the tower. It is still standing after my three days. Also about the Bar Fire. The only other thing is we have about a week’s worth of AA batteries-the new handheld radio gobbles those things up like crazy.

Closer look at Bar Fire

While it is exciting to hear the response in our area, I still need to do my scans. I responded to the 1600 Sierra lookout check in. After that, it is the start of preparation to leave the tower. I clean up the counters, pack the remaining stuff and mop the floor. I still did not find my name badge. After going out of service, a couple minutes before 1800, I leave the tower, locking things up. By 1815 I was on the road.

On Sundays we have a family Zoom call. When I hit Highway 180, I stop at a turnout and see the Bar Fire across the way. I take a couple of pictures and then get on the Zoom call. This keeps me company all the way to Fresno when the call ends. As I get on the on ramp to get onto Highway 41, I have my first opportunity to report a fire. There is a grass fire in a patch between on ramps. But there is a CHP car right there so I assume they responded to a call. I get home at 1945, ready for a good shower.

 
Flowers and Plants

Sulfur Flowered Pea

Dandelions, of course

Golden Bordiaea

Butterfly Mariposa Lily

Butterfly Mariposa Lily

Common Madea

June 8, 2024 - Delilah

 

Title: June 8, 2024 - Delilah

Hike Info : Description :  Background

Hike Info:

Type:  Lookout

Description:

Last night the stars were beautiful. I woke up a couple of times to be amazed by them. Too bad that I was too tired to really meditate and give glory to their creator. Maybe tonight will be a different story.

Deer Brush

I did wake up a few minutes after 0500 to the start of the morning glow at the eastern edge of the sky. There was some lightning yesterday. With the cloud build up I saw, I am not surprised. But all of the activity is far away from me, east of the Kern River in Sequoia NP, way outside of Delilah’s range.. That took me a little while to get the report out, not because of the many strikes, but just getting the laptop set up to produce its first report of the season.

 

 

Yerba Santa

I finished up about 0645. Now it is time for my granola breakfast. Nothing fancy. I wash up and then clean up. Getting on a fresh change of clothes, I discover that my name badge is missing. I had it yesterday when Engine 32 came up. I wonder where I lost it? Guess I will keep an eye out for it.

I will make the cab look as little lived in and more like how I found it when I came in yesterday. Why? I will be starting the training process with Marcus today and I want him to go through the process as if he was coming in without the benefit or distraction of me being here yesterday. After giving a brief inspection, I went downstairs, closing up the lookout like I am going home-I ain’t.

Evening at Delilah

I had enough time to go for a short walk. After doing one lap around the loop around the tower-it is more than what it sounds like, I hear Marcus’ truck coming up. We greet each other. There are a whole bunch of gnats around so we will not talk long down here. I have him walk through as if he is opening up the tower. And then we climbed up it, looking for smokes-none found. We get in and I show him the checklist for opening and closing the lookout. It takes awhile to explain and do-it is much quicker when it is second nature. But that is why we train and then repeat and train.

Each new lookout goes through several layers of training. First, there is a day of new lookout orientation at the Hume Lake Ranger District office. Then a general training day with all of the old timers. The new lookout then gets to get in the tower for two separate days. The first day, which is today, is general on how to be a lookout and get some real life experience. See Background for a full description of this day. The day two is both a review of day one and learning the territory of a particular lookout.

 

Night Sky

This is a draining day both for the trainee and trainer. We take breaks off and on throughout the day. One of these breaks was when we had a rarity for Delilah-visitors. And not just one or two of them, but ten of them. That is a half of months worth of visitors in one swoop. There seemed to be three groups who came together and came up here for a good time. They spent about 20-30 minutes up in the top of the tower with one person truly terrified of heights. But she made it! When they left, our training restarted. The visitors made a picnic party out of their time at Delilah, down at the lookout base. One of the kids had too much energy. He kept going up and down the stairs. That is 80 steps at a shot. But then Marcus noticed stones he was carrying. So I asked him not to drop any more rocks. We found out later that one of the rocks ended up on the roof,

Marcus showed an interest in the clouds we were seeing. I could not answer the question well, but I knew who could. After a little while, Kathy called back and I got Marcus on the line. She was able to answer his questions and more. It is wonderful having a person like Kathy as a resource (and friend, I like to think), so willing and knowledgeable.

 

We trained some more all afternoon, using the radio and firefinder. About 1730 we ended the session, including a tutorial on how to fold the flag. I went out of service a half an hour later. I fixed my dinner of quesadillas. It is filling. By the time I was done, it was getting close to 2000. Downstairs I go and stretch my legs for about 20 minutes on the loop and down to the saddle below us.

When I get back into the cab, after locking myself in, I chat with Sherri for about an hour. Last night I was too tired to do any real star gazing. I am a little bit better tonight. Steven had gotten me a Vaonis telescope for Christmas and I am trying to use it tonight. But I am having trouble aligning my phone lens with the telescope lens. I need to practice more. I took a few pictures of the night sky without the telescope and then hit my sleeping bag by 2215.

Background

The subject matter which the first day of training includes:

• Opening up the tower. This includes unlocking the gates and cab doors, getting the flag up, taking the weather, reviewing notes the previous lookout left behind and turning on the radios.

• Going In Service. This is letting the dispatches and the Forest know that we are open for business and are available to be of use.

• Scan. Every 15 minutes we do a visual sweep of all of our territory. This is both with the naked eye and with binoculars. There is a technique to master to do a thorough scan.

• Weather. We size up the weather twice a day. This includes looking at the sky and determine cloud coverage, recording wind speeds and direction, what is the visibility, how much run has fallen in the last 24 hours-usually none, and determining the relative humidity. Plus we listen to the weather forecast for our area, along with the staffing and fire indices.

• Radio. This is a major topic. We have two radios which are usually tuned to Sequoia National Forest (Porterville) and Sierra National Forest. Including

  • What to listen for. We usually key to those who are in our area as well as dispatch announcements.

  • Tone alerts. These alert us to changing conditions or that an incident is underway

  • Talking on the radio. We do not use the 10 codes, only clear text. Still there are certain ways of talks, using affirmative for Yes, negative for No, copy for I got your message, and a few more.

  • And then there is how to adjust what we we listen too-such as changing what channels the radio will pick up automatically and what channel will take priority over the others.

  • We also have two radios, one a base radio, the other a handheld. While both have similar functions, to get there is a bit different.

• Osborne Firefinder. A simple device really, but one which has been in use since the 1920’s. It’s base has a map of the area with the lookout centered in the middle, oriented towards the north. There is an outer ring which a sighting mount, non-magnified is there and a tape which runs across the middle. When a fire is spotted, you swing the sighting mount so that it points to the smoke. From there you read the degrees from north, the azimuth. When you have determined the location of the fire, you can compute the distance.

• Map Reading. We have an assortment of maps. Delilah is special in that we have maps laid out across the tops of all of the counters-they are under glass. Anything which is within about 20 miles of us is there, and usually many more miles away. The most important maps are the topo quadrangles. The use of contours to determine where land features are is usually foreign to new lookouts and it takes some practice to understand them. But once mastered, you can figure out a bunch of detail beyond where are the roads.

• Smoke Reports. This is where the above all gets put together. Once a fire is spotted, how do you report it in an accurate, comprehensive and cohesive manner? There is a script which has been developed to get the information. It is important to report only which you know, not what you can speculate on. You get the azimuth and distance-if you can see the base of the smoke. Describe the smoke you are seeing along with a description of the location, including its “legal” coordinates (township, range and section). Then get on the radio and start reading what you wrote down.

• Safety. Such as what to do when lightning is close by, safely entering the lookout

June 7, 2024 - Delilah

 

Title: June 7, 2024 - Delilah

Hike Info : Description :  Background : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Coming to Delilah

Hike Info:

Type:Lookout

 

Description:

I  got up about 0515. Looked to see if there was any lightning in the area-none. Then I got my breakfast-nothing special, just granola, my usual. It is finally time to get myself ready to go up to Delilah Lookout. Last night I got most of my stuff packed and in the car. I just needed to load a few electronics and refrigerated foods into my backpacks. By 0640, I am off.

The reason why I am off so early is that there is construction on Highway 180 where there is a half an hour delay reported. But when I pass through, it does not look like CalTrans is ready to inhibit traffic, yet. I get to Delilah pretty early about 0835. Coming in from 180, there was more traffic than what I normally see along the Forest Service roads. Ahead of me was a pickup which stopped at a gate where Millwood heads east and we continue south. Then a couple motorcycles passed me. Finally another pickup also passes me-I see him stop at Sontag.

Wildflowers everywhere

I am staying at Delilah for three days. So there is a lot of stuff I am bringing up-food, clothing and stuff. But I get that all done by about 0910. I then take the weather and go in service by 0928. I thought I heard P33 on R5 a few minutes before, but did not hear who she was asking for. As soon as I go inservice, she comes back on R5 and asks if I want water. Affirm. But then Captain 32 asks the same thing. I think they must have had a discussion because of what happened later.

The rest of the morning was normal stuff. Doing my scans, listening to the radio, and reacquainting myself with lookout life. Also the cab is pretty warm. I am wondering if this is the portent of what I will be feeling throughout today? Reacquainting myself with the lookout is done in bits and pieces. Similar to reviving an old relationship. With the lookout, there is working the radio, making sure that I can navigate around without too much effort. Then there is looking out over the territory, finding the little cracks and crevices, the waterfall coming off of Patterson Bluff, and then there is that tree on Hoist Ridge just waiting for me to see it.

E32 pumping water

About 1230, I hear the sound of a big truck. It is E32 coming with my water. We were down to the last 25 gallons. The Captain for the engine comes up the stairs. I met Dalton a couple of months ago at our annual training. He and another firefighter, John, have the engine filling our tank. They add another 200 gallons. While that is going on, I take John up to the cab and show him around. One bit of excitement was that as the tank filled, the old soapy water turned into suds, floating to the east of the lookout. It was a sight to behold. When everything is filled, down they go to tend to other needs and I return to my duties.

Most of the rest of the afternoon is continuing to find the lookout rhythm. That is until I hear P33 trying to reach Buck Rock. I know that it is not staffed today, so I responded and let her know the status. She is concerned about some hoses at Buck Rock. So I asked the regular staffer about it. Later on in the afternoon, she tells me that there is an issue which E32 is dealing with and to leave the hose there. P33 is appreciative.

 

 

By this time, it is 1530 when I hear Sierra tone out a fire. Earlier in the day, Sierra had another fire, but that was north of Mariposa, way out of my visual range. But this one is close to Prather and is called the Garlock Fire. That is because it is on a road called Garlock Lane. Once I figure out where it should be I can see the smoke faintly through the haze. But this is off of our maps, so I am not sure how far out it is, but I give them an azimuth for it. Then I sit back and listen to the activity.

 

 

I do not quite do nothing, I continue my looking around for other smoke and monitor the smoke of the Garlock Fire. I hear Sierra telling the fire people to stay late. I went out of service with Porterville at 1800 but stay in service until 1900 with Sierra. During that time, I have my dinner.

 After my shift ends, I have just enough time and energy to go for a short walk around the lookout loop. The sunset is enjoyable. About 2030, Sherri and I talk for a bit until I start to drift off-it has been a long day.

 

Background
 Garlock Fire. By Sunday, it was contained at 54 acres. Once I computed it, not observed, this fire was about 26 miles away from me. There was no smoke visible from Delilah on Saturday morning.

View from Delilah: left is as I saw it, right is filtering out the haze.

 

 
Extra Photo's

Moonset over Pine Flat Reservoir-the light on the right side is from firefighters on the Garlock Fire

Sunset over Pine Flat Reservoir

Garlock Fire

Animals

Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds

Black Scarab Beetle

 
Flowers and Plants

Deer Brush

Dandelion

Butterfly Mariposa Lily

Butterfly Mariposa Lily