Hike Info:
Type:Lookout
Description:
Friday, September 4, 2026
I came in at the end of
Delilah’s
Friday shift because it is a three day weekend and the traffic is
usually terrible. Sherri made me chicken cordon bleu for a
lunch/dinner. I ran a few errands before leaving at 1515. While there
was pretty good traffic until Centerville, it flowed along smoothly.
I made better time than I thought I was going to.
Once I turned off of 180, I
met no one. I stopped at a couple of places to look over things,
such as the Armenian/Hye
Camp and
the area which Davis
Road
runs through.
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| Outhouse View |
I made it to Delilah by 1715
where I was met by Richard-not that person whom I was expecting.
Richard is one of the two leads for Delilah. He said that there was
something which happened last night where he needed to come up. It
was good that I came up early and it was good to talk with him face
to face. I closed out the evening at Delilah and went out of service
in quarters.
I felt tired, so I laid down
for a while. Then I had a sandwich. Finally, I finished bringing up
my stuff. Either I am getting weaker or packing more stuff. The stuff
at the end of the pulley felt really heavy. When I was going up and
down the stairs, I realized I did not bring my knee brace. It did
not hurt too bad. There was a hunter who drove by. He indicated he
was bow hunting and looking for deer.
After I got things sorted
out, I decided to go back down and see if I could take some evening
shots of the tower and stars. I was somewhat successful on the tower,
not so much on the stars.
When I went back up, I let
Sherri know that I was available for a call. Then I crawled into my
bag and read and waited for her call. About 2100 she called. We
talked for 45 minutes, then I read a bit more until shortly before
23000.
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| Delilah from the road |
Saturday, September 5, 2026
It felt like a short night of
sleep last night. When the moon rose, I woke up for a while, but not
because of the brightness, but just to gaze on it. Like the sun which
causes the moon to fade from view, the moon causes stars to grow dim
to our eyes. Isn’t this like how heaven will be? We think we see
clearly now, but we do not. When heaven comes, we will see that our
current times are just a ghost of reality. What is more, even heaven
will fade before the glory of God. If our hymns could only capture a
bit of this!
Having rambled on with my
thoughts-no apologies, just realizing this is what was going through
my mind. I did look for lightning on EGP, but there was none. I had
my breakfast and then went down to the ground. On the way down, I
realized that things did not feel quite right with the body. Not
feeling sick or bad or achy like the flu. More breathing harder than
I should going down.
After taking care of the
things which were on the pulley, I decided to go for a walk. Maybe
that would help out whatever is happening. As it turned out, I
probably walked too far and up too much. If anything I was breathing
harder and not feeling better. Also the heart was beating pretty good
on the uphill. At least a good part of this walk back is downhill.
That helped with the breathing and heart. But there is a climb back
up to the base of the lookout. Which I take easy, but I still feel
winded, fortunately not lightheaded or feeling like I will faint. But
I am careful not to push it. That was only about a two mile, 50
minute walk.
I still have the climb back
into the tower, which I make, stopping at each landing. These stops
would have been a good picture break, but I have done that so many
times, not sure what would be different. When I get back into the
cab, I laid down to get my body back into a comparatively normal
state.
I did the normal going into
service stuff-flag raising, weather taking and scanning. Then went
into service at 0930. I was the last one in. Then it was pretty much
a normal, quiet Delilah morning.That is until three visitors showed
up. What made them unusual is they appeared on bikes, mountain bikes.
They came up and I showed them around. The usual visitor, not that I
would know this year, will come up, look around, ask a question or
two, ask if I stay up here at night and leave. Maybe 10-15 minutes,
just enough to catch a breath and go back.
These three stayed for 30-40
minutes. The three had come from Millwood
and were a bit out of breath from the hills. They asked about various
places and roads in the area and did not seem to be too concerned
about leaving anytime soon. They stayed for over half an hour and
were very content with the visit as they got to see areas around them
which they normally do not see. One person was from Squaw
Valley,
the other two from Clovis.
And then it is back to the
normal day. At 1100, I responded to the Sierra Lookout Checkin. Then
it is doing the scans. I am still tired from this morning and still
not feeling right. I lay down for 15 minutes until the next scan.
This continues through the morning until lunch time.
At 1230 I fixed my
lunch-peanut butter and Nutella sandwich along with some chips. But
then I faintly hear a call on R5 Project, our off command channel
calling out Delilah.
Turns out it is 335 trying to reach a couple of her staff. They are
down in the Kings.
I try to reach out to either of them. The Kings is far enough down
where we cannot directly reach them. I also try on Channel 2, which
is a command channel using repeaters.I do reach them and say what the
message is, but I cannot hear their replay. Porterville does get a
response from them. Not sure how well I relayed the message, but the
jest of what is being transmitted. I do not do many relays. I knew
the mechanics, but not sure how well I would execute in reality. I
gave myself a middling grade.
During all of this, I knocked
over my carton of milk. I ended up having to remove the glass on the
desk and cleaning up under it, along with some papers there. Sigh,
not the way I wanted to down my milk nor to conduct a relay.
I do the weather and fall into
the familiar patter of scanning. About 1400, I heard the sound of a
propeller. I realized it was coming out of the south, but could not
see it. I am also seeing that there are hang gliders off Sontag
Point.
If there is something flying out there and it is low, how to warn
them about the gliders. By the time I recognize it, it is flying over
where Davis and Delilah Road meet. It is a helicopter and I can see
the id of N551HQ
on it. As it flys by I wave and they acknowledge. That makes my day
much more than spilling milk. I follow them on FlightAware
as they go out over Pine Flat Reservoir and head northwest.
Because the helicopter's path
should have flown right in front of
Park Ridge Lookout,
I called over to him. He did not either see or hear it. I am a bit
surprised, but I know that depending on the wind and direction and if
he was busy with something else, he may not notice it. We talked for
a while. He mentioned that a similar helicopter had gone by earlier
that day going south. There was a SAR effort around Moro Rock which
this may have been part of. This may be because I noticed on
FlightAware history, it had lifted off from Ash Mountain.
I go back to my scanning.
There is not much exciting. Well maybe just a little. As I am doing
one of the scans, I looked over at Pine
Flat Reservoir.
There I see another helicopter. When I look at FlightAware, I see
that it is a CHP helicopter. It flies off towards Sanger. Wonder what
they are doing out there? A rescue? Looking for a pot farm? Something
else illegal? I guess I will never know.
Around 1800, I prepare my
dinner. This is Birdseye Alfredo Chicken Skillet Meal and a couple
pieces of bread. Pretty easy, just heat it up and service. I will
confess, not my favorite. But it is a good dinner meal.
As the shadows start to
deepen, I continue my scans until 1930, which is the end of the
shift. There was a nice sunset with a layer of clouds. Looked almost
fiery at times. After I went out of service, I went down and got a
few things, then locked myself in.
Around 2030, Sherri and I talk
for a while, at least until 2130. I then look at my phone for a bit
more before going to sleep.
