September 4, 2023 - Delilah Lookout

 

The magic Delilah Outhouse Door

Title: September 4, 2023 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description

Hike Info:

Type:Lookout

Description:

Usually I am OK with getting up with first light and enjoying the morning, even if I need to check on lightning. This morning I woke up at 0510 and decided to roll over and enjoy the warmth of my bag. Even a half an hour later, I checked to see if there was lightning and found some cloud-to-cloud stuff. Do I leap up and work on my report? Nope. My bag still feels so wonderful so I stay in bed for a bit longer. I do get up around 0620 and do my report.

About the time I finish, Sherri wakes up. I go downstairs and take care of a bit of business and pick up a couple more bottles of water. Today is our last day, so there is not much need to bring stuff up-more of a desire to take a few things down.

Clouds rolling in on Pine Ridge

Unlike yesterday, the sky is clear. We go in service at 0730 saying we have good visibility. Shortly afterwards, I got a call from one of the Sierra folks at Prather who just heard the “visibility” part and was wondering how he could have such great visibility in Prather and we have none. It was quickly cleared up and I enjoyed talking to one of the Sierra people. It is a good reinforcement to know that people actually listen to us and that we are not just some disembodied spirit.

Our breakfast is the same: oatmeal, granola, tang, and a cinnamon roll. Then we got cleaned up, while performing our lookout duties. Also since today is our last day at the lookout, we start to take down stuff we will not need throughout the day.

 

For Labor Day, our day is pretty tame. There is the usual radio chatter about being in a location or issuing citations for unattended campfires. But it seems pretty quiet. Maybe all of the wet, cold weather during the past couple of days Of course, now that we have visibility, we do our scans every 15 minutes or so.

 Sherri brought up sugar water for the hummingbirds. This is the first day that it has been nice enough to put out the feeder. We do not get the usual swarms of hummers, but enough to provide the usual uughs and awes for our winged friends.

There are the residual clouds, but nothing which will cause us problems spotting a smoke. With a somewhat surprisingly relaxed day, we decided to have our dinner early. It consists of leftovers: lasagna, pulled pork and soup. It is nice that they all come together so enjoyably.

Around 1630, we are thinking we will start cleaning up the lookout for the next volunteer. Usually on a multi-day stay, I will clean windows. For some reason I am not getting it done on this trip. Hopefully I have earned enough brownie points that nobody holds it against me. But as I am about to clean up the floor, we have visitors. A family from Fresno comes. The mother seems to be recording everything going on. Later on she explains that they like to do adventures, and coming to Delilah is an adventure. They also post their adventures on social media. I was not smart enough to get their channel information. They enjoy their stay up at the top.

And now it is time to start getting ready to go. Because of how quiet it has been, I think the lookouts are the only ones still in-service at 1800. We went out of service, starting the car up by 1820. The drive home is uneventful, even getting to eat my peanut butter sandwich on the way back. By 1950, we were back at our house. That shower did feel good.