Gary-Summer: August 31, 2024 - Park Ridge Lookout

Saturday, August 31, 2024

August 31, 2024 - Park Ridge Lookout

Title: August 31, 2024 - Park Ridge Lookout
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

Prescribed Burn and Morning Light

I woke up from a good sleep, about 0600 this morning. Most of the night I was smelling smoke, maybe it's because I am on the floor. But Sherri also says she smelt smoke at times. The smoke has settled in all around us, giving us a nice sunrise. I finally arise from my sleeping bag at 0700, about the time Sherri does. I go for a short 20 minute walk-the AQI is 114 around here, but I do need to stretch my legs before I settle into the morning business of being a fire lookout.

And we do settle in earlier than usual as we are on extended hours this weekend. This means that with Sequoia National Forest, we go in-service at 0800 and get off at 2000. It makes for a long day, but with the two of us, it is not too bad. At 0800 we went in-service with Buck Rock following quickly afterwards.

Not much activity on our part, particularly with as much smoke and haze. We went in service with Porterville with three miles visibility. By the time we go in service with Ash Mountain Fire, it is five miles. Still a lot of territory is hidden which it would be hard to tell if there is new smoke, or just smoke from the Coffeepot Fire. When we do look at this fire, there is a bit of a hump in the clouds which we take as the smoke directly after the fire.

We have three visitors from Fresno. We talk with them about various aspects of being a lookout, as well as points of interest. The latter being limited by the smoke.

Inversion layer trapping smoke

When they leave, it is back to the normal scanning for smoke. But not a whole bunch. Normally there are peaks which I can gawk at and birds to follow. But today with the smoke, the mountains are hidden. I did see three hawks flying in formation, which was interesting. But for the most part we cannot see far. The AQI keeps bouncing around the 150 mark, but the nose is not picking it up. The eyes are smarting a little bit, but not much.

Sunset

Today, we had three sets of visitors, about three hours apart. The first is from Fresno. I do my shtick with two of them. But the third person seems to be a lot more interested in lookout operations-his companions say that he wants to work for Fish and Game. They did ask us if we got bored, not here so much as at Delilah. But you also need to enjoy the solitude as well as the tediousness of doing scan after scan after scan without spotting any smoke.

The second group is actually are unrelated. Sherri talks with them about fire lookouts. Two of them leave. But the third is interested in lookouts and asks questions and is thrilled to see a fire finder. He has been to many unstaffed lookouts, but this is the first time he has seen one. We talk for a while and find out that he is from Alaska. We explained that is something we want to do and asked him about the Alaskan Railroad. His mother has worked for them and he is very familiar with it. He gives us some pointers.

Then a couple of hours later, a family from the Bay Area, but originally from France comes by. We talked for a while about hikes and places and lookouts before they leave.

Then it is back to the regular stuff-actually there was a lot of regular stuff mixed in between the visitors, including while Sherri was on duty, I took an hour long nap. Woke up pretty refreshed.

Lookout at Night

All throughout the day, there has been limited visibility. Sherri gets a phone call from E32 on SQF. They would like to pay us a visit. Great! If there are new people on the engine, it is good to have them see what each lookout can see, so they will have a better understanding of what is being called in. It will be about an hour before they can make it up here.

But that changes at 1630. Patrol 32 has come across relatives of a person who has been lost for the past three days. They have found him at the bottom of a cliff, apparently alive and doing relatively OK. But it will take a major effort to get him out. So Engine 32 turns around, even as they are on our road and heading towards us. They and half of the District, emergency response from Hume Lake Christian Camps, SEKI, CalFire, and even Fish and Game get involved. Eventually a helicopter is brought in to airlift them to Hume Lake. Apparently, all are doing well as after a little while, the person is released.

During all of this, I go out of service with Ash Mountain Fire. Sherri gets our dinner ready, a Birds Eye chicken noodle conglomerate. We keep on doing our lookout thing for Sequoia National Forest. The sun goes down and the air gets cool. Instead of seeing smoke, I start to see the twinkling of lights, both from houses which are inhabited and the cars returning late to their camps. It is a magical time. Even as the sun has set and the land darkens, there is a faint red glowing at the CoffeePot Fire. At 2000 we, and Delilah and Buck Rock all go out of service. Now it is time just to relax and get ready for bed.