October 3, 2019 - Park Ridge Lookout

Title: October 3, 2019 - Park Ridge Lookout
Hike Info : Description :  Animals 

Trail head: Park Ridge Lookout

Hike Info:

Smoke from the Sherman Prescribed Burn

Type: Lookout

Description:

Today I felt should be called my personnel Lookout Appreciation Day. At least by the end of the day, I felt that way.

I got up a round 0530, a bit earlier than I wanted to, but not too bad. Got ready and packed my truck after having breakfast. I left my house at 0655 and got to the Grant Grove Visitor Center about 0810. A good drive up. I talked with some of the Visitor Center people. I think they are starting to recognize my face. We chatted for about 10 minutes. A volunteer there lives in Wilsonia and is grateful we are up at Park Ridge and able to look down at her house-she feels protected. Another lady who works for NPS said that she appreciated the work we do up there. One of the lookouts spotted the Dry Creek Fire which left unchecked, her house would have been right in its path. I love my volunteer gig. Then it is off to my place today.

Looking West from Park Ridge Lookout

Smoke penetrating the Lake Kaweah area

It is the same drive up to Park Ridge Lookout I took Tuesday. The gate going up Panorama Pt is closed, but I can get through. No traffic on the road-that is the most scary part of the whole drive usually. It is a narrow road and sometimes you get drivers who lack caution. So that is a nice thing about the road being closed, almost a guarantee of no traffic. I get to the lookout at 0855. There are a few spider webs on the stairway. Amazing how fast those things can spin. I get set up in plenty of time. While taking the weather, I also talked with Sherri. She and Steven are thinking about going hiking today. Just confirming that Pan Pt is closed.

At 0929 I go into service. SEKI weather hits right after I go into service. Today I get staffing down-pretty easy. All are working on the Sherman Rx. Speaking of Sherman, lots of smoke to my south. Looks like it goes from up in the Tablelands all the way down to Lake Kaweah.

I settle into the routine of doing scans, listening to the radio. Nothing dramatic. Just enjoying that it is 15 degrees warmer than Tuesday. Still not terribly warm, but it is pleasant. The morning is clear, so I spend some time looking over the front country. Yesterday there was a fire called the Sesame Fire, near Miramonte. I spend some time identifying what is around there. We could not see the location itself as it is behind Indian Hill. Still, we probably could see the smoke for a bit over the top of the ridge.

I talked with Sherri some. She and Steven are coming up. I had heard at 1030 that the Pan Pt road was going to open. So I relayed that on to them. If it is, then they will hike into Park Ridge. When they get to Grant Grove, the Visitor Center said that it was still closed. They would see if it is. If so, they will figure out someplace else to hike at.

The glint I saw.

In the late morning sun, I saw a glint of parked cars beyond Wilsonia. I tried to get a good read on where it is. Most of the time they are hidden. I think they are someplace between the Visitor Center and the tent cabins, but they could be beyond the gift shop. None of the azimuths line up though with the fire finder’s azimuth of 315 degrees, 49’. So it will be a puzzlement. (At the end of my shift, I stopped by the front of the gift shop. Park Ridge Lookout was not in sight-too many trees. But it would be the right area, I think with the green roof. It is the only large green roof I saw among the village.)

1230-Lunch time. The usual of a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich with some chips. Still tastes good.

Sherri approaching the lookout

I got visitors! A couple from Los Angeles, then a person from Atlanta. Talked with them for awhile. They seemed interested in how the fire finder works. They also expressed appreciation that someone was up here keeping watch. After they leave, I do a couple scans. Then Steven and Sherri come up, having hiked in. We talked for about half an hour, partly explaining to Steven how things work, partly just enjoying the company. They leave about 1500 and I am back to normal activities. (As a note: Sherri met the husband on the way out of the couple. He was excited to learn about things in the lookout, especially the fire finder-he is an engineer in real life.)

Porterville reported that there were three tankers leaving for an MMU incident. This is a CalFire unit which services Madera and Mariposa counties. This must be serious to have this kind of response. But it is well outside of anything which I would report.

Evening sun on the way home

All afternoon the radio was scratchy coming out of Porterville. It was like this once before back in July. But what rang out loud and clear was three buzzer sounds. That is our signal that an incident is being rung out. I pray, don’t let it happen in my area as I do not want to have missed a fire here. But then they say this is a Freeman incident, with units being called out in the south. Whew, I did not miss a smoke. But evidently both Buck Rock and Delilah had too much static to get even what I got. So I hear them talking on R5 and neither of them picked up on the location. I have a list of places and how far they are from the lookouts. Freeman Canyon is 96 miles from Park Ridge, well outside of the viewing range.

My radio troubles continue. I thought I had changed the channel to R5 on the base radio. But the knob is a bit finicky. After I tried to raise Buck Rock, I saw that it was on a different channel. By that time Buck Rock was trying to reach me. Oh well. I told her what I knew, even though I think she wanted a bit more info, but I did not have it.

Deer guarding my exit

So ends the excitement for the day. More scans more radio listening until 1800. I go out of service and pack to go home. I got a thanks from Wendy-so ends my personnel Lookout Appreciation Day. Sherri and Steven wonder if I want to have dinner with them. Yes, but I will not be home until 1945 at the earliest. They are willing to wait. So we had a late dinner at DiCicco’s in Clovis. Tired and content.

Animals