July 2, 2025 = Park Ridge Lookout

 

Title: July 2, 2025 = Park Ridge Lookout

Hike Info : Description :  Menu 

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

The light flashed on this morning in the kitchen about 0515. Korra, Steven’s dog, must have wanted out. After a few minutes the light goes off. Either Korra now has new skills or Steven has gotten up to let her out. I got up shortly afterwards and saw that there was no lightning in our area, but there was some north of Yosemite.

It was then time to get ready to leave as well as have breakfast. I left our house at 0650. Sherri decided not to come up. It has been a hectic couple of days without rest. I understand well. For the most part going to a lookout is mostly a time of peace for me, a time which I can recharge myself.

I get to Park Ridge Lookout about 0830 without issues. The lack of issues then ends up being getting into the lookout. The trap doors are secured through a heavy chain and a couple locks-one for us and one for NPS. There have been improvements made so the door is easier to lift and the chain set up is not as intrusive. But I did not recognize what was being done, so I tried to undo their work until I realized the reality. Not sure I put together everything how it was.

I got in and then made several trips bringing up food, water bottles and personal items for the three days. Even as I go into the cab, I notice smoke coming up from the Big Stump prescribed burn. By the time I got everything up, it was 0905. Time to do the weather. Usually I forget about this until right before I go in service, so getting it done at 0908 is an accomplishment. Even before going in service, I had my first couple of visitors. They are from Mountain View, my home town. Actually, they do not live very far from where I used to live.

I go into service with both Porterville (Sequoia National Forest) and Ash Mountain Fire (King Canyon and Sequoia National Parks) at 0929. The visitors leave and I start doing routine stuff. Or at least try to get into a rhythm to do the routine. I do my scans and then remember to look up the weather online. This is before the 1000 weather and staffing.

It is mostly a regular day. But not quite. On our base radio, we have it scanning several channels. There is a channel, R5 Project, which people communicate back and forth on a bit less formal basis than command. I was not hearing anything on R5. Then when I checked, the indicator was not showing that R5 was being scanned. I asked Buck Rock if she had gotten any traffic from Park Ridge on R5 recently. Yes. I tried to set it up, but the radio would not let me set up the channel. I discussed the situation with Wendy and she came to the same conclusions as I did. Then Greg calls me and we walk through the radio. Same thing. But as I am about to hang up on him, I saw that R5 was chatting on the radio. So the radio is scanning, just not showing.

When I had looked at the NOAA Connectivity chart this morning, it showed that there was a good chance of lightning on the eastern side of the Sierra Crest. But there are clouds which are accumulating beyond Mitchell Peak this afternoon. Around 1435 I got an alert that there was some lightning within 15 miles of Buck Rock. So I notified her. Then a while later there is lightning north of Delilah, which I dutifully notify hat lookout as well. But me? Nothing around me. Around 1700, the wind came up and blew and blew. I got out the andrometer and measured the wind as being 20-25 mph with a few drops of rain. This kept up for at least three hours. I only saw one flash of light towards the end of the evening before I went to bed. But this was a major lightning break. In tomorrow's lightning report there were over 550 strikes in our area and most of them east of Mitchell to the Crest, South of the South Fork of the Kings.

One of the things about Park Ridge Lookout is that it looks straight down on the Big Stump area. Last week there was a prescribed burn there and now a crew is mopping it up, putting out the last vestiges of the burn. I hear the Incident Commander (IC) say that there is some creeping fire, but the lines are holding and there is no smoke. About an hour before I had seen a small smoke pop up for five minutes. So I let them know. I talked with the IC and he thinks it was because a tree had fallen. I told him that I am seeing a light smoke now from around where the dry creek is. About half an hour later, the IC reports he is having 25 mph winds with some snags falling.

Around 1800 I heated up the enchiladas Sherri had in the freezer for lookout. Not bad with the ambiance of looking to the east with the mountains surrounded by storm clouds, but to the east a good view of the Sierra foothills close to me.

Because of the lightning, Sequoia NF has us in service through 2000 instead of 1800. I have already closed the windows and door into the cab and only done my scans from inside. Sherri and Steven are sweating in the Valley below, I am putting on my long-sleeve shirt. At 2000, I go out of service with Porterville. I had already gone out with Ash Mountain at 1751.

It takes me about an hour to get everything settled down. I don't even go downstairs to take care of things as the wind is still blowing hard. But with the cab all closed up, I am comfortable, particularly when I get into my sleeping bag. I talked with Sherri for about 45 minutes before going off into slumberland.

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Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Home	Peanut Butter and Nutella Sandwich	Enchilada	Crackers, granola, jelly belly