October 13, 2019 - Delilah Lookout

Title: October 13, 2019 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description : Background : Menu :  Animals 

Trail head: Delilah Lookout

Hike Info:

Type:Lookout

Description:

Deer in the morning

Seemed like whichever way I turned my head last night, I ended up with a headache. Eventually got up at 0645. Just sort of mozied around until Sherri got up. Then we had breakfast and got ready for the day. It is the usual stuff as we take our stuff down to the truck-today is the last day of our three day stint up here. It might be the last day at Delilah for the season.

To back up a bit, while I said I mozied around a bit, I did enjoy the morning light coming over Park Ridge. The shadows from the ridges recede from the golden sides. The air is still and all is quiet. It is a good time to be up here, even if it is a bit cool. Or maybe the coolness helps to enliven my senses.

Deer Love

At 0929 we go in service with a low RH : of 15 to both Sierra and Porterville. We then settle down to our routine of scanning, radio listening, and identifying places. Sherri and I talk a bit about our experiences, or lack thereof, of identifying smokes. As you go through this, you learn the terrain better, so that part is faster in figuring out where the fire is. Also you understand it is good to get an approximate location out to the Forest, then give them more details. We are still working through what is a real smoke and what is an illusion.

Is there a smoke close to Nelson?

As if right on cue, Sherri sees something suspicious. Is it a smoke? Or is it a haze or something else. We start figuring out where this is-the South-Southeastern flank of Mt Nelson, probably about 17-18 miles from us. Whatever it is, looks like it is behind Poison Ridge, probably past the McKinley Grove area. But it does not look like anything is really showing. So we monitor it and continue to try to figure out what we are seeing. We get Celeste involved, but Celeste only sees trees and granite. Then Kathy calls, our expert in all such things. She gives us some recommendations, including talking to Buck Rock and Sierra’s Battalion Chief 42. Sherri calls Buck Rock, but does not see anything, so we are content to monitor. As time goes on, the haze clears out and the white rock gets more visible.

By this time, it is lunch and we have our sandwich, between scans. Our looking around continues, with not much exciting. To tell you what keeps us “entertained” is we are listening to an incident way to the south, beyond Mineral King in the Sherman Pass area. A SPOT message was received and an ambulance is sent and keeps asking for directions about where to pick up the victim. We keep wondering, where is Sherman Pass? We figure out where it is and start thinking about visiting it one of these days.

It is getting close to quitting time. As the days shorten, so does our duty houses. We will be going out of service at 1630 today. But at 1600, we hear a report off of Dinkey Road at the Bald Mountain Trailhead that there is an out of control campfire. It will be named the Glen Fire. A passing contract logger calls it in. can we see it? No, but we do look for it. Sierra is on it right away. It will take the next 7 hours to put it out, but they caught it early.

A bit of orange close to Garlic Meadow

At 1630, we go out of service, getting packed up. Sherri notes that it took awhile for us to get out of the lookout today, about 40 minutes. But thinking about it, the Glen Fire got us occupied close to quitting time, so we did not get things ready before the end of our shift. We meet Steven in Fresno and go out to Sweet Tomato’s for dinner.

This may be our last time at Delilah for the season. The next weekend is unstaffed. We are over at Park Ridge Thursday and Friday, but have told folks that if they want us over at Delilah, we are willing to shift over, whichever is more important and is harder to staff.

Background

RH. What is an RH? it is a measurement of how much humidity there is in the area. Less than 20%, the forest wants to know about it. At this level, any spark can take off, particularly in the dry grass we have at this time of year. More than about 60-70% it is awfully hard to start a natural fire

Menu

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Sandwich: Peanut Butter, Nutella	Sweet Tomato’s in Fresno	Almonds and String Chees

Animals

I see you

Not a salt lick

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