May 19, 2023-Delilah

 

Title: May 19, 2023-Delilah

Hike Info : Description : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type:Lookout

Description:

Slept well last night. I woke up to an early morning light around 0500. The subdued orange and pinks of the early morning is always pleasant. The other good thing is, I do not need to get up to enjoy. I just can lay in bed and look out of my glass house. Just before the sun comes up, the area behind Split Mountain gathers light with intensity.

Around 0530 I start gathering information for the day’s lightning report. I know there was some activity because of the clouds I was seeing and the alerts I got. But it turned out there was only a single cloud-to-cloud which nobody cares about. So I do not need to send a report.

I mosey around the rest of the morning. Mich had sent out an email about Delilah which others responded to. Since I am the only one on scene, I take this time to respond. Also I talked with Greg about the water situation. Breakfast is granola and lemon bread, which Wendy gave to me yesterday.

Patterson Falls

Rancheria Falls

I took the weather for the morning. Nothing alarming. Wendy alerts me through a text that I will be doing a relay for Patrol 33. Not five minutes later, P33 summons me and I do it. Yeah! One of those radio things I feel I can easily screw up. I hear Engine 32 go into service to Delilah LO. Company today! And all of this is before I go in-service

 

At 0933 I go into service with both Porterville and Sierra. Then I start washing windows between doing scans. P33 lets me know that her crew will be raising dust along Davis Road. And I see her convey of trucks heading down, marking areas for drivers to be cautious of. At 1000 Porterville gives the weather forecast. P33 and her gang gets close to Sampson Flat, taking care of some logs and trees. Then at 1100, is the Sierra Lookout check in. Another lonely day-I would not trade it lightly.

 

Hillside shift above Davis Flat

This gives me a chance to review my area of the world. Usually when I am up here, there is so much which is dry. As I look across the Kings, I am seeing several waterfalls. There is Patterson Falls, at least a significant drop from Patterson Creek. Also Rancheria Falls. Then I am not sure if it is a fall or just a long descent, there is water coming down the ridge into Dinkey Creek. Several places have had mud slides. You can see the scaring in several places, including over on White Deer area, the hills above Davis Flat and on McKenzie Ridge.

 

Mt Nelson

Lonely not for long as Engine 32 did show up with batteries for our repeater. I got to talk with the head of Engine 32. Most of the time I only hear these disembodied voices over the radio. So it is a pleasure to greet them in person. Not only have they brought batteries, they also brought a replacement fire alarm. We talk for awhile. One of the things he said was that yesterday some Forest Service staff snowmobiled into Buck Rock with batteries. That explains why tone 2 is available.

Engine 32

He then goes down to help move the batteries. Another person comes up, a first year person and we talk for awhile, but he does not seem too interested. Engine 32 moves on and I am left by myself again.

I have my lunch and then settle into the normal routine. That is until 1334. Porterville tones out a fire and it is in my neighborhood. Unfortunately it is behind Pine Ridge, so I cannot help. But I did report I cannot see it. P33 did not catch the address, so I told her what I heard. Also we have a third radio now so we can listen to CalFire when something breaks. That is what I did. That all was worth about 20 minutes of excitement.

And back to the routine. P33 wants a few more items relayed and Division 3 notifies Delilah that our repeater tone should go in service sometime tomorrow. I had my dinner after Sierra 1600 check-in. Then cleaned the floors and generally cleaned up. Not much of a mess on my part.

As 1700 hits everybody is going out of service, except me. I do some more scans and enjoy a bit of quietness. And at 1720, Sierra calls with status of Delilah. I said I would go out of service with dispatch. And now I put the final touches on cleaning up and packing. At 1754, I go out of service with Porterville.

It takes a few minutes to get everything put away and my stuff taken down the stairs. But at 1815, the tire on my car starts to move. I get home a few minutes before 2000. A good, but tiring, couple of days.

 

Flowers and Plants