July 8, 2023 - Park Ridge Lookout

 

Title: July 8, 2023 - Park Ridge Lookout
Hike Info : Description :  Background : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

There is something wonderful about waking up to a couple junko’s flying by, chasing each other or the sound of birds calling to each other or the light before the sun rising gracing the skies. Life in a lookout can be amazing. And then there is the rude awakening of, what do I smell? A whiff of smoke! Is there a fire close by? I get up and look around. Nothing obvious.

It is 0600. So I looked to see if there was lightning yesterday-nothing, as expected. I get up, get dressed and tidy up a bit. I did sleep pretty well last night. Well there was the instance where the moon came shining its bright face through the window. But I just turned over and went back to sleep.

Sunlight through trees

I go downstairs taking down some things. Then I go on my morning walk. The flowers are coming out and water is running through places which I never expected to flow. The air is pretty cool-refreshing. Even though I understand it is cooler than usual in Fresno. I walk down to the saddle where the Azalea Trail meets the road. I can tell that I am not ready for backpacking yet. Feeling pretty winded on uphills. 

 

 

Log Creek Meadow

The decision: which way to return? I decided to come back via the trail. Not a bad choice. I take my time, look around. At one point I see Delilah LO. Then I take a few more steps and there is Buck Rock. A wonderful walk. Well mostly wonderful. I hear my phone dialing and see it is trying to reach 911. I hang up to try to stop it from going through. But the Fresno County Emergency Services gives me a call back to make sure I am OK. That is good. I get back to the lookout around 0820. Then have my breakfast and finish tidying up. After such a great start of a morning, I realize I forgot some of my medicine. Now to monitor how I am doing the rest of the time up here. If things go a bit wobbly, I will need to return home.

Buck Rock and its Lookout

And now it is time to be a lookout. This includes doing the weather and a scan. By 0929, I went into service with both Porterville and Ash Mountain Fire. And then I do one of my scans for the day. As I am scanning, a hummingbird lands about two feet from me. We stare at each other and talk with each other. I am sure she was saying, where is my sugar water? And I was saying, I do not have any. If the rest of the day is like this, it will be great.

I then start working on the batteries. The radio is working fine with the rechargeable, but the two clam shells which hold the AA batteries have a lot of corrosion in them. I clean out the clam shells with baking soda and put back the usable one.

As a lookout, I should be listening to the radio in case there is something I should take action on. But truthfully about 98% of the chatter are things which are not relevant to us. It is that 2% which I listen for. But today Division 3 is giving someone a tour of the Hume Lake area. Interesting hearing them on the R5 channel. Turns out Division 3 will be going to Angeles NF to spend a week there in their Air Attack group.The other person is his sub-also on the division level.

Pronounced Inversion Layer

 Delilah is doing some training. Got a call asking for who the duty officer is on R5 I responded back on the cell phone. Later on Delilah called Buck Rock on R5 and asked him to call. Buck Rock could not get through, so he gave the burn information over R5. I called Buck Rock to find out where he got the info. Buck Rock got it from the 0700 check in which Porterville does. I learned something new today. Then Delilah does a radio check with me-loud and clear.

Then the visitors started coming in. And they kept on coming. I do a pretty good job of explaining our function, over and over again. At least no one acts bored and there are questions asked in response to what I say. Maybe they are thinking this is a good resting place, after all in order to be up in the lookout, they have had to walk 2 ¾ miles to get here and then there is the walk back. It is interesting all the places people come from to visit this lookout: the Netherlands, Belgium, Palestine, and France today. Of course, there are people from all over the United States. Even from California.

And even from Fresno. You remember when I went to Yosemite in May I met a guy who I worked with? Well he and his wife walked to Park Ridge. I was surprised to see him and I think he was surprised to see I was doing a lookout gig. We talked for a while.

During this time, Battalion 1 comes up. He came to the lookout to bring up replacement AA batteries. Also a spare rechargeable as well-even though he sheepishly said, the latch is broken and we will need to figure out a way to hold it in. He also listens to my babbling to the visitor for about five minutes before he takes off. That is something which I have seen in almost all of the fire fighters I have met. There is a sense of courtesy and dedication each has. Going into this gig several years ago, my impression was more along the lines of gruff, super-heroes. Instead, they are heroes and also real people.

And then it is back to the visitors again. Wendy and I talk as well about the battery situation and status of the lookout. By the time I get done with all of that, it is about 1420. I have not done the weather yet-I am over an hour late. Oh well, what are they going to do, fire me? After all, I am a volunteer.

Sunset

In the later part of the afternoon the number of visitors decreased and I got a more regular schedule. But I am tiring out and waiting for the 1800 going out of service time. By that time, I counted up the visitors in the log book-46 of them. While this is not up to Buck Rock standards, it is pretty good for us.

I heated up some lasagna I had made over the Winter and some of Sherri’s home made bread. It is good to have this kind of good meal up here. At Park Ridge, we have a microwave unlike Delilah where we have to figure out how to heat things like this.

After resting a bit, I go for a stroll to an area south of the lookout-not far. But there are some nice views looking east from there. The hills may not have music, but they certainly seem to be alive in their reflective beauty. To my surprise, there are also a couple fields of flowers; one yellow and one white. Annie Dillard talks about the extravagance of the Creation. I think this is one of the things she is talking about. When humans create things of beauty, we like to show it off, but when God does it, there is a tendency to hide the beauty and reveal it only to those who seek it.

If the landscape reveals one certainty, it is that the extravagant
gesture is the very stuff of creation. After the one extravagant
gesture of creation in the first place, the universe has continued
to deal exclusively in extravagances, flinging intricacies and
colossi down aeons of emptiness, heaping profligacies with ever
fresh vigor.

                        Annie Dillard, Pilgram at Tinker Creek, pg 287
                        (The Annie Dillard Reader)

And with this in mind, I go back to the lookout, and talk with Sherri for the next hour and a half. Then lay down to a sound night’s sleep.

 

 

 

Background

911. Why did my phone cal 911?Evidently on Android phones, there was an update this Spring which if the power button is pressed five times in a row, it will automatically call 911. I think this was a pocket dial. Fortunately there is an option which will turn off this feature.

R5. Our radios are pre-programmed to certain frequencies. These discrete settings are called channels. There are some channels which are dedicated to strictly business. R5 is a channel where discussions pertaining to tasks can take place with less restrictions on usage. In this case, the lead person was giving a tour of the District for his sub, also there was training on how to use the radio at another lookout.

Extra Photo's

 
Flowers and Plants