Gary-Summer: September 12 and 13, 2025 - Park Ridge Lookout and Dark Sky

Saturday, September 13, 2025

September 12 and 13, 2025 - Park Ridge Lookout and Dark Sky

Title: September 12 and 13, 2025 - Park Ridge Lookout and Dark Sky
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

Clouds above Buck Rock

Sept 12

We will not be going into service this afternoon. But we want to get up there and spend the night, so we do not need to get up early Saturday. We get packed at a pretty leisurely pace. Then went out for Mexican food at Fuego Taqueria y Resturante, The food was pretty good and my wet burrito would keep me fed for three dinners-two of which I will eat when we get back. We puttered around until 2pm when we took off for Park Ridge Lookout.

Sherri starts off our trip by driving. Our travel comes to a quick slowdown on highway 180. There is an accident which backs up traffic. But after about 10 minutes we pass the accident and the rest of the drive is uneventful. We get into the park about 4:15, We first visit the Visitor Center to make sure that the Dark Sky events we are interested in will be held-they are.

It is a bit late to go on a full fledged hike, but we can go on a short side trip. Since we need to go up to Panoramic Point anyway, we decided to go up and do the short trail to Pan Point. We walked the loop which takes us to both the Old and New points. We do our gawking, even though it is a bit smokey. After observing, we head back to the car, then drive over to Park Ridge Lookout, arriving at 5:30. Jose has just gone out of service and is waiting for us.

Night Sky above Pan Pt

We talked for a while with him. Being a lookout usually means we do not see anybody for long periods of time. Most of us are good with that, but we also welcome interactions with our fellow lookouts when the opportunity presents itself. So we find out a bit more about Jose before he drives off.

We lounge around for a while until 7:30. There is a Dark Sky event at Pan Point. We drive back, but do not even try to go into the parking area; we just park behind the locked gate. We walked to the gathering point, the start of the trail to the Point. We realize that we did not have red lights, but we will make do. We end up towards the last of the group, and it is a pretty good size group. The program is presented by a SEKI ranger. But this puts us into the presence of the Sequoia Conservancy person, Chora. I am not sure if she took pity on us or what, but she gave us a private tour of the skies. Chora is going to Spain next week. We talked about various things including trails in the area and our various backgrounds. We walked back to the car and drove back to the lookout. We arrive around 10 and go to bed shortly afterwards.

Sept 13

Morning Star

I slept well, but not long, having woken up at 0520. Why? Well, I knew there was lightning which needed reporting. It is the first time this year which I am reporting off of my laptop and it shows. I stumble and fumble through it all. There were 79 strikes, mostly in the Evolution Valley area. I got it mostly out by 0730.

This gives plenty of time to get ready to go into service. We were able to get most of our stuff down to the car. It is pretty smokey this morning. I think we have a visual of about three miles, barely able to see Redwood Mountain; Big Baldy is only a bit of an outline. At 0930 we went into service with both Porterville and Ash Mountain Fire. With such limited visibility, the scans are pretty quick.

Not really an interesting day. It is nice having Sherri up here-it is her first time this season. While I do most of the scans-Sherri does some of them as well-she does pay attention to the radio, particularly when I am out of the cab doing the scans. It is also nice just having someone there with me.

Sherri's Breakfast

Two weeks ago I discovered the ease of making omelettes for dinner in the lookout. So I am back at it. As I was making it, two men came up, so Sherri talked with them while I cooked her meal. Once done, we change places while we have visitors. Once done, I go back and cook my omelette. Well before I did, I noticed that there was a bee in the egg batter doing a backstroke. The omelette has an acceptable taste sans the bee.

Park Ridge Lookout

After taking the weather I laid down for a few minutes. When I woke up, I found that Sherri had been keeping the lookout stable for over an hour. I am grateful. I feel much more refreshed after my nap.

By now, the smoke has cleared up some. I can now see about 6-7 miles without straining. A couple more visitors come through and we do our shtick about the lookout. I talked with Delilah about a BC31 we have been hearing, but there is no resolution there. We know that BC32 is the duty officer. But we cannot figure out who BC31 is. Turns out Wendy had sent out an email saying that BC32 would be the Duty Officer, but he would be driving the truck for BC31. I guess I was not paying good enough attention.

The skies keep clearing and by the time 1700 comes along, we can see in most directions pretty well. But we are also cleaning up for our departure. Almost all of our stuff is down in the car now.

Tomorrow’s lookout sounded like he was coming in tonight, but we have not heard from him. So at 1800, we go out of service and lock up the lookout. Then we are off. Normally we would go straight home, or at least stop to eat. Tonight, we do stop to eat, but at Big Stump. We have a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich and enjoy a somewhat peaceful time.

Night Sky at Big Stump

But what makes this a more imperative stop is that there is a Dark Sky event here at 2000. I see Chora here, but she is pretty busy to talk with, so after a couple of minutes, I leave her alone. The event tonight has the Central Valley Astronomers coming up and sharing their telescopes with the general public. We stay here and enjoy the evening until it opens. There are at least a dozen telescopes set up. The first several we visited were still trying to locate their celestial objects in the fading light. In this case, light is a hindrance. But we do find several telescopes which we can look through. About half are pointed at stars. But the really interesting ones are the ones with clusters of stars. We see a globular star cluster-I do not remember which one-and the Andronmena system. Spectacular! Displays of this beauty always makes me wonder about the parts of Creation which have been hidden until now, whether it is the stellar activities 22,000 light years away or that which is so small, only powerful microscopes can see. Like Paul would say, all creation displays his glory, Romans 1:20.

By 2045, we think we should be going. This will make room for others to enjoy. Off we go and arrive home at 2200. It takes a few minutes to unpack the car. Then into the shower we go. Then to bed by 2300.