Gary-Summer: August 11, 2018

Saturday, August 11, 2018

August 11, 2018 - Delilah Lookout

Title: August 11, 2018 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's : Animals

Trail head: Delilah Lookout

Hike Info:

Sunrise

Type: Lookout

Description:

The early, morning glow has started in earnest before I have opened my eyes. By the time I pop my head over the desk, the sun has just started to peak its face over the crest. Evidently it does not like what it is seeing as Apollo keeps his fiery face masked behind a layer of smoke.

And that is how today is. Everything in sight is veiled with smoke, not that we are smelling it. Once again our visibility will be limited. Patterson Bluffs is just barely visible while neither of the Bear Mountains can be seen.

Sherri taking the weather

Breakfast is oatmeal-easy to fix. Then cleaning up and putting stuff away. Now for the most delicate operation which we can do at the lookout: taking the pee can-a Folger’s coffee plastic container from some friends of ours-down the 80’ to the outhouse without splattering it over myself. Successful!

We start to get into lookout mode by taking the weather and then doing the first scan of the day. Not that we have been blind for the previous three ours, just have not been systematic nor looked with the binoculars. Then we go into service with both Porterville (PV) and Sierra (SNF).

On of the interesting.radio calls is about a log burning in SNF land. We felt pretty good being able to pinpoint the location on the map with the lat/lon. Of course, I have a spreadsheet which given to coordinates, I am able tell the azimuth and distance. It puts it at the Bass Lake Overlook.

We also hear Patrol 33 giving coordinates of an out of control campfire. Turns out it is at Stony Creek campground. She says the fire has gotten about 10’ outside of the firepit. But she can handle putting it out. Sure enough about half an hour later, we hear that Patrol 33 is returning back to Big Meadows.

Another morning visitor

We have a visitor! This a rarity. The man comes up to have a look around, but his wife is a bit taken back by the height we are above the ground. They have a new truck and are wondering about going down Davis Road-closed due to potential tree fall. He takes a look around and then returns back the way he came. Later on this evening, we have another truck which comes up the road, but they only go around the lookout and return up the road.

We hear some of numbers, 336 and 332 which we are not familiar with. I think from a conversation with Kathy she indicated that these numbered folks are more recreational people. But it also sounds like they do a lot of the grunt work like emptying garbage cans and cleaning restrooms. One of them is coming over to our neck of the woods, over to Millwood. But we do not see him.

Just to show how much people do not leave their natures back in the city when they come out to public lands, we get a radio report of a Patrol 46-way out of our area-who needs to respond to a campground host at Camp 9. This sets us to scrambling to figure out where Camp 9 is-Lake Isabella far to the south of us. As the story unfolds, law enforcement is called in for backup as well. Turns out a camper had taken a shovel out of the campground hosts cart and taken a swing with it at the host. Wow! Get real! I do not hear what happens next, but about an hour later Patrol 46 calls in clear.

Then Patrol 33 comes on the radio again. You know the unattended campfire from Friday? Same spot, same people. Sounds like they will be getting something serious as there is a request for their license information. They are from Fresno of all places.

Looking over the edge

We start to see a cloud buildup, but it will not affect us today. There is a radio report from SNF which advices there may be some lighting strikes in the Dinkey area. We load up Weather Bug to see if there is anything closer to us. Nope-that is about as close as it gets to us-35 miles away.

Gary wandering

Now, it is time for folks to go out of service. So we start hearing the various Forest Service units going back to their quarters and out of service. And pretty soon it is our turn, along with the rest of the lookouts. At 1800 we go out of service. Quiet day on our part, particular when you have limited visibility and considering what happens out there. Dinner is Costco spinach/cheese ravioli along with nan for bread. After washing dishes, it is off to go for a walk.

Early today, I had looked down a slope close to Delilah and realized there was a log which looked sort of hanging over an edge. I was wondering if there was an edge really that close to Delilah. The first thing I noticed is that the slope from the road around Delilah to this log has about a 20-30% grade, but appears somewhat flat from above. But then the slope at the log is a really steep drop off. Gives me a new appreciation of how Delilah stands. The other thing which this little jaunt gave me was socks and shoes full of thistles. Exploration is not to be painless.

Smoke towards Bald and Bear Mountains

Setting Sun

We walk along the Delilah Road to the junction with road 12S19B. This is where we saw the truck in June go up and it goes right under Delilah towards the west of us. We walk about a third of a mile down the road and then decide we will need to come back up up. But the scenes towards Squaw Valley is pretty nice. The smoke is starting to lift and we are able to see some of the Valley lights.

Delilah at Dusk

When we get back, it is time to get ready for bed. I decide I will try sleeping out on the catwalk tonight. Hopefully the Pleiades meteor shower will show it-it should be a good show if it does as there is only a sliver of a moon showing. But in the meantime, Mars is glowing red to the south east and Saturn with its golden color is to the west-later on when I check the sky charts, it probably was Venus in the west. I think Jupiter is to the south of us. Looks like a nice night to look at stars.

Background
Weather.For those of you who might be interested, Sherri is reading the relative humidity using a sling psychometer. This device measures the the temperature of the air dry and wet. The relative humidity is then determined from a chart for our elevation. The relative humidity is important as a low reading, typically less than 20%, will allow for easier ignition and spread of a fire.

Extra Photo's