Today will be my first day back at Park Ridge this season. It has been a month and a half since I was at Delilah. So I expect some of my skills to have oxidized a bit.
I really have not packed yet-only gotten a few things together. But it should only be two hours max to do that. I did my lightning report-none, but I let people know I will be away this weekend. As I was eating breakfast, Sherri came hobbling out. She did not sleep well at all last night because her hip was being painful. She is thinking that going up to the lookout may not be good. We will discuss this later on, but it does not seem promising.
I talked with Wendy for a while. She gives me the rundown on Park Ridge. Everything is pretty much the same. But there are some issues with the radio. Our rechargeable battery is not charging. The AA batteries are all corroded. So we may need to use the base radio. At least Wendy alerted me so I could think about how to handle this situation before going in. Also Nancy and I will refresh each other.
It does not look like Sherri is going. While her hip is improving, she does not think climbing up into the tower will be good for it. But she does make stir-fried chicken for my going away dinner. Steven helps to pack some of the heavy stuff into the truck. And then I am off a little after 1300. Traffic is not too bad. I get to Grant Grove at 1430. But going up towards Panorama Point, I got behind a car, while not slow, was taking his time. We all have to pull over a couple of times.
Close to the top, I cut off onto the service road. I betcha you that the car I was following was wondering, where is he going? After unlocking and relocking the gate I continue on. The usually soggy part of the road is not too bad-it could have been a lot worse. And then I meet up with a Park truck. I need to back up a ways, which is a minor adventure. I meet BC-3 and exchange greetings. The rest of the trip to the lookout is uneventful. I do pass three groups of hikers along the way. As one of the fire people says, I dusted them, but I tried not to leave too much dust on them.
I get to the lookout a little after 1500. By the time I get parked and get a load ready to go up, one of the groups of hikers I passed is already up in the tower. Nancy explains the working of a lookout and what we do. After they leave, I ask Nancy to refresh me. We start off with the classical “name that place”. To my embarrassment when Nancy asks me to point out Bear Mountain in Fresno, I point to Bald Mountain. I quickly realized my mistake and pointed to the right place. We also go over the radio and how to change tones. This might be useful if the NPS radio runs out of power like our notes indicate it might.
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| Clam Shell with the missing pin |
By 1700, we felt good that we could find places and use the radio well. So Nancy takes off and I start settling in. I take stock of the radio battery situation. It looks like the rechargeable battery is fully charged, so I changed that out. One minor success which will make my life easier. Looking at the AA’s, most of them are pretty grody-a technical term meaning that they are corroded, consequently unusable. But I still have enough to last me through the weekend. Looking at the spare holder for the AA batteries, it also has corrosion in it. It is also missing a pin. So it is not good.
At 1758, Buck Rock went out of service, along with Delilah. I go out of service right at the same time. I fix myself a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich and get settled into my home for the next 48 hours. I read and rest.
That is until 1954. Rich over at Delilah text’s me about a wildfire on Butternut Lane in Miramonte. He must have been listening to the CalFire radio. I look at an ESRI fire map called #FireMapper and zero in on an incident called Butter. It looks like it is just off of Butternut Lane on a road called Baldpate Lane. I give him the azimuth from Delilah , but he cannot see it, too many hills in the way. But I look straight down on it and do not see anything. I hear on the CalFire radio they have aviation involved. They do not see anything either. Wendy also calls me up and asks what is going on. I tell her that it looks like a false alarm. Friends of hers were concerned about the tank overhead.
Recently I bought a personal locator beacon called Zoleo. When I tested it out last month, I got inconsistent results. So I am trying it out tonight. Once again, was not too successful. But my daughter came to my rescue. She sent me a page which explained what I was doing wrong. Instead of holding down the check in button, just tap it. Bingo! Much happier now.
I had thought of going for a walk, but it is getting dark and I am tired. I talk with Sherri for 30+ minutes before going to bed. After reading, I roll over and fall asleep before 2200. I must have been tired. But it has been a good day.
Background
A couple of weeks ago, we were rear ended on our way to Salem, OR. I have been having a stiff neck. A Kaiser doctor recommended not lifting more than ten pounds. So Sherri and Steven have helped me get thighs together. The neck is doing much better now.
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