September 17, 2019 - Park Ridge Lookout

Title: September 17, 2019 - Park Ridge Lookout
Hike Info : Description :  Background 

Trail head: Park Ridge Lookout

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

I got up around 0515 this morning. Sherri has an OSHER class this afternoon and will also be picking up a friend at the airport. So I will be up at Park Ridge Lookout alone. Maybe a bit nervous about my stamina-after all, I am used to taking naps in the afternoon. I had gotten most everything packed last night, so I was able to dilly-dally around the house some. I still left a little before 0700.

I get up to the Visitor Center pretty early-stop in to say, Park Ridge Lookout is open today. They promise to send some visitors. Then it is up to the lookout I go. I get in at 0840. It seems like I have a lot less stuff to take up to the lookout. On the other hand, there is just me, so there should be less and just one day up here. On my third hand, there is only me to sherpa the stuff up. I get myself situated before 0900.

After taking the weather, I set up Celeste so it would be ready for duty. At 0929, I go in-service with both Ash Mountain and Porterville. Today the air is clear and I take a look with Celeste at what appears to be a cloud. With Celeste’s eyes, I pretty much confirmed it is a cloud. At 1000 I hear Porterville’s weather and staffing. But then Ash Mountain starts in with their staffing, I catch what I need from Ash Mountain, but I will need to get a bit more used to it.

You know that clear air I was so happy with earlier? I am in a cloud-I know, some of you will say that I am perpetually in a cloud. But this is a literal clouds. Fun watching the mists starting to swirl to the south of the lookout. But then they no longer are swirling, but are surrounding the lookout. I call in to both Ash Mountain and Porterville that I am now lacking visibility. I can see the trees in front of the cabin, but nothing more than a quarter of a mile. What use is a lookout who cannot see?

Looking towards a cloud covered Eshom area

What use indeed! I get out my “favorite” lookout activity-cleaning the windows. I got done the west windows when a couple of visitors from Illinois came up. Without the sun and the moisture from the cloud around the lookout, inside the cab is definitely warmer than outside-I think our outside temp barely got above 50 anytime during the day. They were interested in all aspects of a lookout, so we spent an hour or so talking about things, ranging from the firefinder to what are the best hiking trails around-my stock answer is the one I am on now-of course, I am not on a trail, … But then gave them some ideas, such as Redwood Mountain/Canyon. Right before they left, the clouds lifted and you could see to the west and north. That was a proper send off. They were so impressed that they wanted a picture with me. I almost feel like a celebrity.

Big Baldy basking in sunlight

The Illinois group parting words were they would probably be the last visitors I had today. But about 10 minutes later-just enough to finish a scan-I had a group of four. After talking with them I found out that they were a group of engineers who used to work together at Port Hueneme. But that was 30 years ago and now they are scattered around the United States-from Redding to Virginia. They come out to hike with each other once a year. They ask all kinds of questions, such as is it wetter now than before (not really, we have had drought years 6 out of the last 8). That lead into the Rough Fire-they had been to Cedar Grove and noted the devastation along the Ten Mile Creek area, where are the best places to hike-I got that question a lot today. After about 20 minutes, they went down below and had lunch.

Shell Mountain

 As the group of engineers left, I noticed two people coming up the road-they were walking at a pretty good clip. I figure that soon I would have more company, so I did a scan-did not see any smoke. The two of them ended up eating lunch at the RAWS station, just under the south east corner of the lookout. I noticed that they were using hand signals, like deaf people use. Usually we will shout down to encourage people to come up to the catwalk and look around. But this seemed a bit inappropriate. So I went down to them-it is only 20’ after all. Would I have gone down at Delilah? I made some hand signs-definitely not sign language stuff, but it seemed to be effective in communicating-that it was OK to go up to the tower. I returned to the cabin to continue my looking around.

Southeast of Park Ridge

After they finished lunch, they came up. This was possibly the start of my best time with visitors. It turns out that neither of them could either hear or speak. Definitely would be an interesting time. And it was. The two women are from San Luis Obispo and are staying at Lodgepole. They are really interested in all things in the lookout. How do I know? We communicate by writing out our inquiries and the answers to them. Of course, they probably had a bit of amusement trying to interpret my handwriting. They asked about the firefinder, radio, how long I had been a lookout, and many other questions. Not being able to speak the answers, forced me to think about the answers and how to answer things concisely. It was a good exercise for me. They asked if I hike or drive in-drive. But I have hiked it several times. They then asked about good places to hike-told them about Crescent Meadows, Watchtower and the Lakes. I drew out where these were on a map. They left after about an hour-seemed like they were pleased with our conversation. I was sorry to see them go. Sometimes you meet people and are happy that you have met them. With these two women, I was glad I was able to talk with them and would have liked them to stay. It would be good to know them better.

Celeste looking

That was the last of the visitors for the day. I could then do my regular lookout activities-you know, scanning, observing, becoming more familiar with the area, taking care of Celeste. You know making sure that Celeste sees the sights around Park Ridge-Buena Vista Peak, Shell Mountain, the General Grant Tree and other scenes. As closing time approaches, I start cleaning up the place-mopping the floor, cleaning the counter tops, and the like. I never did get beyond cleaning the west windows. At 1730, Buck Rock and I have a conversation. She has been silent for much of the day-been away at a meeting at the District office. And now it is time to go out of service with Porterville and Ash Mountain.

Celeste's view of the General Grant Tree

I feel like I had a good day, but one of my main objectives is not been accomplished-to relearn the area. The terrain I have no issues, well maybe only a little bit of issue. But the various populate locales, I definitely do not have down. Such as the Hilltop Church Wendy pointed out to us a couple of years ago-I just could not find it. It will have to wait for another time. This maybe my last time here this year. A prescribed burn is scheduled to take place on or after September 27th which will close down the lookout. On the way home, I stop for a bite to eat at Bear Mountain Pizza. Then I make it back home by 2030.

Background

There are some things which are hard to break. When you learn something in childhood, you use a phrase without thinking about it. One of these is the term “deaf and dumb.” I have always understood the term “dumb” was in line with the older usage of it-that a person could not speak. But there is the new usage which denotes a lack of intelligence. The reason why I note this is that in one of the logs, I noted the two women who came up as “deaf and dumb.” But then on further reflection, I realize that this is probably an insensitive usage. In looking around the web, I was able to confirm this. But I did not come across anything which would be a good replacement. It was mostly things like being sensitive to what a person would like to be called. That really does not help me.