Gary-Summer: August 11, 2021

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

August 11, 2021 - Delilah Lookout

Title: August 11, 2021 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Trail head: Delilah Lookout

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

Mistletoe

As we were going to retire last night, we went out and enjoyed a gander of the night sky. And it was magnificent! Enough that we spent more time out there-around 30 minutes. As we were heading in, I saw two very bright meteors directly to the north of us. Then when we were getting ready for bed, Sherri saw another one more to the northeast. So great to be up here at Delilah!

I also got up around 0100 to see if I could enjoy any more of the Perseids meteor shower. Saw a couple during my 25 minute stay, but nothing which was as good as earlier in the evening. It was warm out on the catwalk, So the time is not uncomfortable. Would have been more comfortable with a chair.

Pine Ridge-burnt trees on left

I saw a post from a friend of mine which was on my mind during my walk. What he said as an open Facebook question was What can be more arrogant than believing the same god who didn't stop the Holocaust will help you find your lost earring? I pondered what I was seeing by the road as I was walking. My friend’s exclamation talks about the horrific crimes against the Jewish people. But I was wondering if his objection was too weak. It seems to me as I see so many things either turning brown because of the heat or having died after a brief time of glory. Seems like the bigger question is, why does God permit death and decay and pain in this world at all? Of course, both Jews and Christians died and/or suffered in concentration camps with God not answering their prayers of deliverance either.

Dandelion

Still there is beauty in the decay I am seeing as I ponder my question rather than hisl. That lecherous mistletoe on that tree gives a sense of the coming of Christmas; the dandelion weed shows close to the perfection of a sphere; looking up the slope I see the dead, burnt trees from the Rough Fire six years ago, but I also see the signs of new hope. Do I look at the beauty around me as a clue to the character of the world? Or the destruction which is also out there? How do I understand and process what my senses tell me? As CS Lewis said,

I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly,
of us, why should they hear the babble that we think
we mean? How can they meet us face to face
till we have faces? Till We Have Faces, pg 294

Lewis goes on and notes that once we see God’s face, our questions melt away. Until that time, I think we are left with something like a modified Pascal’s Wager.

Now it is time to go back into the tower and let these thoughts percolate in the back of my mind. As a side note, during my walk, I came across what is pretty obviously a bear track, but it has six toes-wondering if the bear is of the habit of walking over its paw marks to confuse people like me. Sherri and I have oatmeal for breakfast. Then we take the weather, Today we have good visibility, but an RH of 20%. That is how we go into service at 0930.

Jeff's Wind Block

Pretty normal morning. Except that the handheld radio started giving us fits last night. We were hearing everybody but Sierra’s Dispatch. We could talk and Sierra would hear us. That problem continued this morning, even swapping out batteries did not help/ But we made due by listening for Sierra on our base radio and responding on the handheld. Not a great situation, but we adapt. Buck Rock is not having that issue. Must be our handheld or the hand holding the radio.

After lunch, I take a nap while Sherri stays vigilant. After half an hour, there are three beeps on the radio-fire or an emergency. That gets me out of my slumber quickly. There is a fire on the Sierra side of the world. It is at Courtright Reservoir. We will not be able to see the smoke from it unless the smoke gets pretty large as Patterson Mtn is between us and it. A bit frustrating as it is always something to enliven a lookout experience. Still we track it on the radio while continuing our duties.

Have I said it gets hot in Delilah's cab? Yesterday was hotter, but today is still enough to make us sweat. Jeff, one of the very experienced lookout came up with an interesting way to provide relief. He put together a wind block to funnel a breeze into the cab. Worked out pretty well.

The rest of the day is pretty normal, what life is like as a fire lookout. As we approach 1800, we get the cab clean and take down our stuff to the car-one of us does remain on duty, ever vigilant. 1800 rolls around and we go out of service. By 1830, we were in the car and starting our drive home. We are a few minutes late to our family’s Wednesday Zoom call. But that is OK-we are on the phone and need to get out of the hills to get good reception. About the time our Zoom call ends, we roll into home. After eating and unpacking, the shower really felt good.