May 29, 2022 - Delilah Lookout

 

Another view of yesterday's rock

Title: May 29, 2022 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description :  Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

I woke up around 0515 with the first hints of sun coming over the Middle Fork of the Kings. When I turned over, part of the sleeping bag fell away and I decided that it is a cold, cruel world out there and maybe I would be more comfortable snuggled up in my bag. Looking at the RAWS station, it says it is 47^o. This gives me a chance just to lay and watch the sun filter through the clouds. I am not being completely useless, I also see if there was any lightning yesterday-none.

Clouds invading my space

By the time 0630 rolled around I was ready to get up. Well, maybe I am. The neck is a bit stiff. After making a pit stop, I went on a short walk down to the saddle. Delilah’s crowning jewels are in blossom-Common Media’s, elderberry’s, Mariposa Lily’s and its cousins. Even a fawn made an appearance. A splendid walk. I get back up in the tower, huffing and puffing more than I did yesterday with my 35 pound pack. Still got up there by 0740. Now to get ready for my 12 hour day.

Delilah went into service at 0800, the start of a new day. Clouds around the fringes, with one large, non-threatening cloud coming straight towards Delilah from Pine Ridge. I have my breakfast, brush my teeth and put up the flag. I am doing my 15 minute scans as well-of course the eyes are constantly looking around, even with other activities.

Clouds over Park Ridge

I get a scan in around 0935 and then a cloud wraps its arms around Delilah on three sides. I let Porterville know. I can still see across the Kings into Sierra NF. But not for long. Around 1000 I let Sierra know that there was little or nor visibility. Between Porterville giving a weather update-seems strange since I am in the middle of my own weather phenomenon-and Sierra doing a lookout check-in, I was able to lay down for a bit. Felt good. Maybe the clouds were God’s way of giving me a few minutes to rejuvenate.

 

 

Buck Rock went into service around 1110, but was uncertain if she heard back from Porterville. So we talked and also let her know about our need of AA batteries and water. Then Patrol 33 called and I relayed a message to Buck Rock about a replacement part she is bringing up. Always good to talk with P33. She is someone who is always so warm and affirming.

Park Fire smoke

The rest of the early afternoon was more or less normal stuff. Taking the weather scanning, writing a bit on the blog, and refreshing myself on the places around Delilah. Just a normal afternoon. That is until a little after 1500 when I hear Sierra tone out an event, a fire. But where? Does it even concern me? Sierra started to give location information: Trimmer Springs Road. Wait! I just checked that 5 minutes ago. And Pine Flat Road. I looked over there too, but I will admit not extensively. But even now, there is no sign of smoke. Looking at a topo map, the ridge above the ground is at least 1000’ above the floor where the roads are. By this time Sierra is calling out resources and 5 minutes has passed. And now I am seeing a bit of discoloration in the area-I would not have noticed that without looking closely and comparing it to what I saw before. A minute later, there was a genuine smoke rising over the ridge. I call that in with an azimuth and a description of the smoke. Both Sierra and CalFire are already rolling, but it is good to have somewhat reliable eyes on it. Over the next hour, I watched the smoke grow and heard on the radio resources attacking the fire. And then the smoke started to diminish.

    

Markings on the window for training

Even with all of this excitement, I perform my duties and go on looking for other smokes-and not finding any of them. A while later while I was updating the logs, I had a guest who is a Canadian from Singapore. He is interested in the area and what the lookout does. He must have been since he stayed an hour or so. Don’t worry dear reader, I was looking around for more smokes. 

 

 

And then life returned to normal when he left. I get back into my routine. Around 1800, I had my dinner-homemade spaghetti, brought from Fresno. Filling and tasted good, even if I made it myself. Then at 1830, my family has a Sunday Zoom meeting. I took off WiFi from my phone and went onto mobile data. Worked out well. Fun showing the family my habitat in the sky. They also seemed to enjoy it as well. I also did my scans, maybe not as religiously during the last hour. But I had been on the job for 11 hours already.

By the time we finished the Zoom call, it was 2000 and time to go out of service. There are a few things I need down stairs, such as bring up water for tomorrow. Then I came back up.Sherri and I talked for another hour before I went to bed. A good day.

 

 

Animals

A flower child deer

Dotted Blue

 
Flowers and Plants

Common Madea

Wild Hynecth