July 9, 2019 - Park Ridge Lookout

(Picture is from May 2019)

Title: July 9, 2019 - Park Ridge Lookout
Hike Info : Description :  Background :  Extra Photo's

Trail head: Park Ridge Lookout

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout


Description:

In some ways, this was a non-eventful day. In other ways, we kept busy enough to be tired by the time 1800 rolled around.

It has been two years since we have staffed Park Ridge Lookout. While familiar with it, we will need to get reacquainted. To that end, Wendy was going to come up and refresh us on the lookout. But she may or may not be able to make it because of car issues. While I think we will do OK, it would be good to have that little bit extra in seeing how to operate this lookout again.

Afternoon view towards Eshom Point

We leave at 0700 and make good progress up the hill. There is a stop at the Grant Grove Visitor Center both for personal relief and just to let them know Park Ridge will be staffed today. Then up the Panorama Point road we go. Not a bad drive in. One place where there is a spring was at all questionable, and there was no problem with that.

We parked in front of the lookout at 0845. I wanted to get up a bit early to familiarize ourselves before going into service. So we were able to take things in a relaxed manner. Also Park Ridge sits only 20’ off of the ground, versus the 80’ of Delilah. So it is a lot easier making multiple trips back to our truck to get stuff. Also since we are only staying today, there is not as much to lug up. So we get settled in pretty quickly.

Mill Flat Creek and the Kings River area

The morning weather is taken and we go in-service to both Porterville (Sequoia NF) and Ash Mountain Fire (SEKI). Our first adventure of the day. When we go in-service with Porterville, we do not hear a response. So I call up dispatch and find out that they heard us and responded. They do a radio check which we hear-I screw up the standard response of “Loud and Clear.” But they understand we are amateurs. 




 

Mt Silliman

Now to get an Internet connection. Why you might ask? There are certain things on the Internet, besides Facebook, which makes life a bit easier, particularly since the radio seems a bit problematic today. Such as we can pull down what is known as Fire Weather for the area. Also the staffing both for Sequoia NF and SEKI. We listen so we can confirm they are reading the same thing as what we pull down. But so far our success rate is in the high 90’s-once I pulled down the wrong day’s staffing.

Southeast towards Shell Mountain

The rest of the day was mostly spent doing regular lookout “stuff”. Scanning our area’s for smoke, listening to the radio, re-familiarizing ourselves with the territory. The last is where we missed not having Wendy up here. She is able to name area’s off the top of her head and then give us the background on what we are seeing. Knowing the background makes for the area more interesting.

Another difference between Delilah and Park Ridge. Today we got a total of seven visitors-this includes one baby. At Delilah, that would be an abundance of people. Two of the visitors were associated with the Park. The Dad works in law enforcement, but not on duty. We had a good chat about the different places he has been.

But along the interesting lines, at least in the tower it was, but probably not reading on this blog page, that static and unreadable condition coming out of Porterville? We heard a discussion between Delilah and Buck Rock about how unreadable was Porterville. We, as in Park Ridge Lookout, joined in this one and agreed that none of us was reliably hearing Porterville, but each other was coming in Loud and Clear. Also to add to Buck Rock’s woes, its phone was not functioning. So we agreed that Park Ridge could act as a relay if needed.

Do you see the smoke?

 There was a prescribed burn around Giant Forest called the Sherman Rx. It is behind Big Baldy. So we are not expecting to see it or at least nothing of significance. Big Baldy is a major part of our area, particularly since it has Redwood Canyon and Redwood Mountain in front of it. So we had been looking in that direction pretty well anyway. So far nothing. At 1115, Wendy texts me and asks if we are seeing anything from the Sherman Rx. Nothing of note. There was a bit of smoke up the Topakah area as well as drifting into the Valley when we got in this morning. But nothing to report. I texted back to Wendy to say that. Then took another look. Just to the right of the radio tower on top of Big Baldy is a little patch of smoke, hardly noticeable-probably some of the better lookouts would notice it right away. About 20 minutes later, we see a small smoke cloud to the left of the radio tower. After telling Wendy about it, she had me tell Delilah. He was at first not seeing it, then, like myself, saw the dirty cloud.

Smoke from the Sherman RX around the Big Baldy radio tower

When you listen to the radio, you hear all sorts of things. Such as Hume Lake reached its capacity and water needed to be let out-these Forest Service patrols do everything. Or at Lodgepole/Topakah area, there was a possible need for a swift-water rescue team. The report was that a female had fallen over the falls (I don’t think Topakah) and had managed to climb up on a rock in the middle of the river. Turned out that she was able to get to safety before SAR was able to get there.

Needle Dump Smoke

Then our little bit of excitement happened. Sherri spots a column of smoke west of us. First thought is that it was from the Needle Dump area. This is a spot which Sherri and I hiked last year, so we were familiar with it. After confirming the distance and direction as being the Needle Dump, we called in Ash Mountain Fire to report the smoke there. They just want to know rather than calling in a fire. Still excitement for us.

At 1650, we went out of service with Ash Mountain Fire-they now have a normal 1700 ending time. We get one more visitor before we close up at 1800 with Porterville. We think we have left everything the way it should be-we shall find out when the next volunteer comes up and staff’s the place. Even though Wendy was not able to come up to Park Ridge, we were in communication with her-our own personal safety net. When we leave, the mud from the spring? There has been trucks coming in today to work on the Park’s telecomm next to us all day. What was easy to get through before is now a bit more interesting. Seems like the mud was sucking the tires in a bit. Our truck got through it OK. But I wonder about the next person.

The next order of business is what and where to eat. Neither of us are overpoweringly hungry, so we decided to go down the hill to the Clovis Red Robin-we have a coupon. Then it is home we go. Tired, but felt like we would like to go back up to Park Ridge again.

Background

Readable. A term used to say we are able to hear and understand the radio communications. When a check is done to see if the end point is hearing, the response is Loud and Clear. Or if there is static or the message cannot be understood, then it is Unreadable. Usually one end or another will change their communications such as which repeater they are using or which channel.

Relay. Exactly how it sounds. Sometimes there are reasons why a lookout can hear a unit, but the end unit cannot. This can happen because of range or a physical barrier such as a mountain. The lookout might be asked to take a message and relay the text to the end person. A whole conversation can be set up this way.

Extra Photo's

Needle Dump Smoke

Needle Dump Smoke