Gary-Summer: June 2026

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

June 30, 2026 - Delilah

Title: June 30, 2026 - Delilah
Hike Info : Description : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type:Lookout

Description:

It was a bit cooler last night than I expected. Still I kept warm, I just kept inside of my bag. While I can sleep with a light on, if I poked my head out of the bag, the moon was still going strong. It probably will be the same tonight.

I do wake up before the sun rises, at 0500. I had checked last night and saw that there was some lightning yesterday, both in my local area and in Stanislaus NF. The local one is outside of my vision. It stretched from the upper Middle Fork of the Kings to east of Florence Lake. The question is how to do the report. Yesterday I realized that the travel laptop I have did not have all of the files which my home computer had. Last night I had decided on how to jerryrig things to get something useful. I was able to get to mostly working and get the information the lookouts needed.

Delilah

By the time I was done with the lightning report-I had eaten breakfast while working on the report-it was 0800. I decided to go for a walk before getting into lookout mode. Of course, when in the tower, there is a reflex of looking around and seeing if all is right with the world. I am gone for about 40 minutes, having gone just to the saddle and back. Then I clean up the cab and get ready for the day.

Nothing special to start today off. I started off doing a scan, then took the weather. Nothing alarming with either. At 0930 I go into service with both Porterville and Sierra. Then I look at the fire weather forecast and see who is on in the Sequoia Forest. The “who is on” is what staffing there is around me and most importantly, who the duty officer is on duty. It looks awfully sparse as far as staff in this area. The radio traffic from Porterville at times can have a lot of static. This is one of those times. I have a habit of recording the staffing, so I can play it back and make sure I hear the staffing correctly. Evidently Buck Rock had the same issue as they called me up and I told her what I heard.

Smoke in the Valley

When I am at a lookout for more than one day, I try to clean windows. I am able to do Delilah’s windows in a couple of hours, between other duties. Well, after finishing, I still see places for improvement. At 1230 I have my lunch. Then at 1309, I take the weather. Not too much different than this morning, except more breezy. I am hearing on the radio that the duty officer and a work group is gathering at the McKenzie helipad. That is on the road into Delilah. I wonder if they are going to head this way? Am I getting lonely? I do not think so after all the isolation of Delilah is one of its attractions for me.

I do have two 15 minute rest periods, between scans. During my scans, I see a wide variety of land. There is the Valley land, filled with orchards, farmlands, and ranches. We do not report fires in this area. Then comes the foothills, above the Friant Kern canal. For the most part, these lands hold only some interest-the people I know and the history which is part of the land. Then there are the mid-mountains where Delilah is. I have traveled through some of the areas, both in a car and on foot. It is fascinating and not many people go over to Patterson Bluffs, nor into Millwood or any of the places which this lookout is part of. Finally, on a clear day, I can look up the Middle Fork of the Kings all the way to the crest.

And that is where my heart is. And why this train of thought came as I looked over the areas which I love? I wonder if I will ever be able to go back there? It does require strength and endurance, things I am losing. There is a bit of melancholy with that thought. The reason which I love that area is because I have been able to experience it, it became part of who I am. In stories you read about how a hero cannot go home and looks longingly towards the place he cannot return to. I can place myself in the hero’s shoes.

But I am fortunate as I can still do so many things I love to do, such as hike be in a lookout, read, and the plethora of interests I have. Also I have family and friends who love me. I am not despondent, just yearning.

Evening view from outhouse

At 1600, I responded to the lookout check in from Sierra. I spot two smokes, but neither are reportable as they are in the Valley. At 1716, I called up Porterville to say I am overnighting here, my last planned night for a little while. I do have a lot to be thankful for. At 1755 I went out of service with Sierra and Porterville.

Most days after I have been in the lookout all day, I am spent. Not because I am doing anything terribly physical, nor mentally challenging. I think it is because of always being on: listening to the radio and constantly looking out for smoke. Very little real downtime during the day. Yesterday evening, I was spent. Tonight, after finishing up everything, I got right to the business of eating the quiches Sherri had sent me.

98.9% of a full moon

After washing the dishes and putting away everything, I went for a walk. I was thinking I would be about half an hour, but I was gone for over an hour. Wendy and I had a light and fun text conversation. Each of my replies would give me an excuse to pause while going up the hill which is Mount Sampson, not that the road goes over it.

When I returned, I talked with Sherri for about 45 minutes. Since I have waited this long, I think I will wait for the moon to rise. It is to rise at 2119 and be 98.9% full. Maybe not as nice as yesterday, but there will not be clouds getting in the way. By 2140, I am in my bag.

Flowers and Plants

Grove of Dandelions

Milkweed

Foxtail

Google says it is Penstemon, I am not that sure

Monday, June 29, 2026

June 29, 2026 - Delilah

Title: June 29, 2026 - Delilah
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

I got up a few minutes before 0500 this morning-I will be tired this evening. But I wanted to get an early start to Delilah for several reasons. First, I was not there all of last season. The last time I was there was November 2024. There is a bit of anxiety over will I remember what is in Delilah? What has changed since my absence? Second, the last two weeks I did some hiking in Minnesota. My left knee had some ache in it. With coming up the 72’, 80 stairs of Delilah, will my knee bother me? Third, how tired will I be climbing those stairs? Also how will I feel after three days?

I leave a few minutes after 0600, even for me, this is a bit early. I stopped at Costco for gas and discovered that I did not have my Costco card. If I had thought for a few seconds, I would have realized that I had my Costco app which had my Costco card on it. Instead I started to look for an attendant. But right beside me was Richard who would be going to Delilah to pick up supplies for storage. He swiped his card for me. The rest of the drive to Delilah did not have a problem, except for constant glare from a dirty windshield and the sun.

I get to Delilah around 0800. The road is just as “interesting” as it was two years ago. I load up the basket, which is one a pulley system, with things and take my backpack up to the cab. The knee did not act up and I took my time, stopping at each level for a breath. Not too bad. I made a second trip to pick the remaining food and water and my sleeping bag. I think I am good for the day now. Fears two and three down.

Now to familiarize myself with Delilah. In truth, not much has changed. There are a few small differences: a radio to listen to CalFire; new kitchen utensils, a few things moved. I think I will do OK.

I do my first scan. While I was doing that, Richard and Jan drive up. After while Richard comes up and we talk awhile. He had posted on FaceBook a couple of days about going up to Mitchell Peak and realizing there was a lookout there at one time. This got us into a discussion of lookouts which are no longer there and where they are. He talked about a fire in Arizona called the Pocket Fire which is burning close to Sedona. There are several things I told him I would send him:

List of California lookouts, current and past-from PeakBagger. PeakBagger seems to have the most comprehensive list, but there are other sites which have lists and sometimes more detail:
- Fire Lookouts
- National Historic Lookout Registry
- Forest Lookouts - some of the lookouts, have interesting news articles
Blog entry for Henness Ridge lookout
Blog Entry for Crane Flat lookout
Blog entry for the book Call of the Canyon, a novel by Zane Grey about East Oak Canyon near Sedona.

And now it is time to act like a lookout. I take the weather-it is a really clear day, with only a few far away clouds. Then I go into service at 0929. Then start doing my scans about every 15-20 minutes. At 1000, we get the weather and staffing. Fortunately I record this as I can never get the staffing.The weather I get from a website. At 1059, Sierra does a roll call of lookouts. There are only three of us: Buck Rock, Delilah and Signal.

The morning has gone by pretty fast. I pretty much have been doing regular scans and listening to the radio. Something which I do at the start of each season at the lookouts is to go through the eight orientation points for the firefinder. The purpose is to validate that the firefinder does not need adjustment. What it does do for me is to identify landmarks in each direction.

By 1230, it is time for lunch. The usual, a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich with chips. Then I do another scan and take the afternoon weather. Not too much change from this morning. After doing another scan, I do a couple rest periods. During the rest period, I set a timer for 15 minutes, turn the radio up and lay down. If something happens on the radio I would respond appropriately. At the end of 15 minutes, time to do another scan.

That is pretty much my afternoon and evening-not resting, but doing things in 15 minute increments. Scanning, then refreshing myself on locations close to Delilah. On my list of sites, I get to about 6 miles out, which is about 65 locations. It is not that I memorize them. Most of them I have a good idea where they are. If I do not, then I have my spreadsheet. Every other 15 minute segment, I do something personal-answer emails, read, write this blog. There is a small thing of keeping the hummers happy. So I refill their sugar water.

At 1600 the mundane is broken. I need to respond to Sierra’s status check-they do that to make sure we all are still alive. Sometimes we get distracted and do not respond quickly and have to sheepishly say we are really here afterwards. At 1800 I went out of service with Porterville and Sierra. And that is the end of my work day.

Strawberry Full Moon with a little bit of a cloud

After going out of service, I rested for about half an hour. Then I fixed myself dinner of Sherri’s enchiladas and Stagg Chili. Maybe not high class cuisine, but it is filling and I eat it all. After that, I go down and do a 25 minute walk down to the saddle, taking pictures of a few things.

I will make sure that I am back in the tower by 2010. Why you ask? I want to get paid, as I get paid in sunsets. The setting sun should be around 2020. Sunsets are a yin and yang thing. If there is a spectacular sunset, that usually says that there is a lot of pollution in the air. Today, the sunset was not spectacular, which means there is not a lot of smog. But there is enough that I took many pictures.

Occasionally I make it into a lookout on the night of a full moon. That is tonight. There are a lot of clouds and I wonder if the moon will come out while I am awake. It finally comes out and I am able to get some nice shots. Enough to get some ooh’s and aahs.

After that, I talked with Sherri for about half an hour. It is after 10 before I snuggle inside of my sleeping bag.

Extra Photo's

Full Moon covered by a cloud

Pine Flat and Setting Sun

Looking towards Finger Rock in the evening

Content Hummer

Yokut/Squaw Valley

View from the Outhouse

Afternoon cloud buildup beyond Spanish Mountain

Flowers and Plants

Dandelion in the evening sun

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

June 17, 2026 - Minneapolis Institute of Art

Title: June 17, 2026 - Minneapolis Institute of Art
Hike Info : Description

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

Description:

I got up a few minutes before 7. It had been raining and it looks pretty wet out there. I did my lightning report-from what I can tell, there does not seem to have been any new strikes in the area. But I am at the point where I am not trusting it. Until Sherri wakes up, I will just read and write.

Breakfast. What else would it be?

Sherri gets up around 9 and we go downstairs for breakfast at the Star Bar. Shelby is our waitress. Sherri has the eggs benedict on a philo bread with ham and Hollandaise sauce while I splurged and had pancakes with maple syrup. Sherri may have splurged more than me. I think I will be content for a while as my blood sugars rise. I asked Shelby about if there is some etiquette concerning the skyways. She said no. We will probably meet mostly business people during our walk-that was my observation as well from seeing people in those walkways. She mentioned that the Target Center has a lot of selfie opportunities. Not sure that we will make it over there.

Minneapolis a long time ago started putting walkways between buildings on the second story. According to a Web site, it was to make the sidewalks less crowded and to allow more vehicle traffic. A side benefit was that during the rough winter months, you did not have to go out into the cold and snow. As there was more pedestrian traffic inside of the second story walkways, shops and restaurants started to spring up.

View from Skyway

When we got back to the room, we decided to walk the skyway. We figured out where to get to the Skyway on this block. The back of the hotel goes into the Northstar Center. This is an entrance into the Skyway. Sherri and I start walking along the Skyway. Apparently there are many people in a rush, all going faster than we are and dressed for business. We just try to stay out of their way.

We are learning how to navigate through the buildings. Once we leave a street crossing the skyway snakes through a building. Sometimes it branches out to multiple other Skyways. We see places where people eat-mostly quasi-fast food. We just take various turns at the junctions, not really having a destination.

After half an hour, Sherri’s foot starts to ache a bit. We decided to get on a bus and go to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA). This has been one of the top recommendations of many people. Turns out we are a little more than a block away from picking up the bus. We have the Metro’s app. All which we have to do is show that we paid on the app and hop on the bus. Easy. We probably overspent as we had gotten an all day pass, but that is OK. When we use it next time, we will know.

Locations of Native American reservations.

When we get to MIA, it is a little after 12. For the general exhibits, admission is free-I like that. The special exhibits do cost. MIA has two big floors of exhibits. They are broken up into sections, such as on the second floor there were rooms which showed Japanese and African artifacts, with maybe some Chinese. Also Native American items showed on this floor. The third floor dealt with European and American art. There were exhibits with modern/contemporary art and photography. One thing which MIA did well was to explain what we were seeing.

We spent four hours inside the MIA, getting out after 4. The one item which impressed me was a twisted glass prism which followed you around the room. It reminded me of the concave sonic shell at the High in Atlanta. Not physically but the concept. I guess things like this mesmerizes me. In another part of the MIA there was a statue of St Anthony of Padua. The draw was the statue showing the first modern African canonized saint. The statue depicted a black man dressed in a gold robe. Shortly afterwards we saw a painting of St Francis of Assisi and St Anthony of Padua. The skin tone was indistinguishable from each other. I was wondering what I was seeing and was I understanding it correctly.

When we left the MIA, we took the 11C bus back downtown. It let us off at Nicollet and 7th Sts. This morning we had noticed some dining options coming over. We decided that if there was something to eat walking the Skyway back, we would stop. Somehow or another, I was able to make a pretty direct line back to our hotel without really seeing anyplace to eat. Well there was a Starbucks and a donut shop.

When we got back to the hotel room, neither of us wanted to go out and find a place to eat. So we just had sandwiches and chips. Showers were taken and clothes were washed. Then at 8:30, we got on our family Zoom call. A little after 10, we went to bed.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

June 16, 2026 - Minneapolis, Intro Walk

Title: June 16, 2026 - Minneapolis, Intro Walk
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Touring

Trail head: Hotel Indigo

Trail: Hennepin Ave, Grant, Marquette

Destination: Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Loop

Distance: 3.8 miles ¹

GPS Tracks

¹Distance is a guestimate from Google Maps

Description:

I slept well last night. I thought about getting up at 6am, but decided that California time it would be 4. Even with my penchantment for early rising, that seemed a bit early. I still got up at 7 and did my lightning report.

Breakfast

I would write in the report that no plan goes unscathed in the face of an enemy, or in my case, reality. I thought I had a good plan together. Yesterday Becca from Stanislaus NF said that she had seen there were 11 strikes in their forest. When I looked at EPG, I saw many strikes, maybe more than 11. That is good. But when I pulled that data, I got only one. I played around with that for an hour, with no success. Then I was able to pull the data by looking at three days. But when I pulled that data, I got not only Stanislaus NF data but strikes from about 40 miles outside of the boundaries I had set.

By the time I got to the ones I really wanted to do, around our three lookouts, it was closing in on 10am my time or 8 PDT. I decided to go with what I had. Even then things did not cooperate for me. Still I got something out with the above statement and saying that I suspected there were more strikes than I was reporting.

By the time I was done with the above it was after ten and we still had not had breakfast. We get ready. Last night at dinner, the waitress suggested the Hen House as a possible breakfast place. It is only three blocks away and looks promising. So down we go. Sherri had the biscuits and gravy eggs with a side of sausage. I had the Farmer’s Wife Omellete. Both were very hearty and tasty. We waddled out of there.

One of the buildings on our walk today is the Foshay Tower. We can see it from our hotel and it is only a block plus from the Hen House. We have heard there is an observation deck. We are thinking of the Columbia Building in Seattle and how wonderful that is. We went to the building and looked around on the first floor, but did not really see anything which indicated going up to an observation floor. As we were leaving the building, a valet was standing around. We asked him and he said that it is $20 a person and to go to the front desk and talk with them. We thought maybe later on today as we have various other things we want to do. Note: We would never get back to going up into this building.

In the cities we have gone to, we have used GPS My City. There has been an introduction walk which has given us a feel for the place we are in. With Sherri's foot bothering her, we decided to split the introduction and go on only part of it-the Foshay Tower was one of the places to go to. We went back to the hotel room to get what we needed for the rest of the day.

By now, it is closing in on noon. Our first stop is the Nicollet. Or more precisely, the Nicollet Mall. We get to the block where it is, but do not really see how to get in. But there is the Minneapolis Visitor Center here. We stepped in because we felt it might be of use to us. We were waited on by Jeanne who had a whole basket full of information. She heard how long we were going to be in the city and what kind of people we are. She then came up with a whole host of places which we would enjoy. I have listed them on the Background to this blog entry. I doubt we will be able to go to all of them, but there are some places we really want to go, such as the Minneapolis Sculpture Gardens

Basilica of St Mary

that were on her list of we must go-that was in the plans for today. Also the Mill City area-probably Thursday.

We decided not to find the Mall and just continue our walk. We go over to Hennepin Ave and start walking southwest on it. This seems to be an area with some older theater. GPS MyCity has on it is the Orpheum. On the outside, it does not look like much. Reading the history, it is pretty old. It also looks like this is not a place where you can go inside and enjoy any inner beauty, except when there is a show.

We continue on down Hennepin, past Minneapolis College-I think this is a community college. We come to the Basilica of St Mary

Cherry and Spoon

. From something we read, we knew that it was under renovation-and it is! There is scaffolding all around it and there is no way to go inside it for the next year or so. Something about the bishop does not think falling plaster on visitor;s heads is a good thing. We get a few pictures and move on.

This brings us to Loring Park-our first Minnesota park and as it turned out it was Minneapolis’ first park. If they are all like this, then Minnesota must be a great state. Actually, what we have seen in Minneapolis, this state has a lot going for it. We go into the park and sit and end a park bench for awhile and enjoy a pond in front of us Sherri gets enchanted by a red winged blackbird-we do not have these where we live. So it is understandable.

But where we want to go is across Highway 94 to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. There is a colorful and aesthetically pleasing pedestrian bridge across the 16 lanes of highway. It even has a name: Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge. An artist designed the bridge and his creativity showed. Sherri took the accessibility route up to the top while I climbed the stairs-which were not very steep at all.

We then spend about an hour and a half wandering around the gardens. The main exhibit is the Spoon and Cherry-that is what you see on all of the pictures for the garden. But there were at least 10 other exhibits, widely spaced out for us to walk around. None of them seemed outlandish-the ones in Seattle left my head aching. We just strolled around. Even though there is a cool wind blowing, the sun makes it seem hot.

Note: Evidently there is a lot more than what we saw. When you look at the Walker Center site, it looks like we saw only a third of the exhibits.

Fortunately, there is a frozen yogurt truck which we decided is what is needed for a good relaxing time in these gardens. We get a large dish between the two of us and find a park bench to enjoy and rest. Not bad tasting; it really hits the spot.

Frozen Yogurt

We enjoyed a few more sculptures, including one dedicated to St Laurence. Then it is time to head back. We go under Highway 94 instead of over and get back into Loring Park. A relaxing area. Apparently we are not the only ones to think so as there are people here who are doing the same. Upon exiting the park, we go down Grant until Marquette. Once passing Forshay we jog over to 2nd where we get to our hotel.

Fondue at the Melting Pot

For the next couple of hours we rested. Then it is time to go out for dinner. But first we go to Target to pick up some groceries. We had passed by a fondue place called the Melting Pot. When I think of fondue, I think of informal and friends. This place definitely has a different idea of fondue as we are asked if we are here for all four courses or just the cheese and chocolate. Turns out we are here for the first two courses: cheese and salad. As tasty as that is, it is enough. We enjoyed the Wisconsin Cheese fondue and then our own salads. Sherri also has a sangria while I am satisfied with an iced tea. Pretty good. The Melting Pot is a chain with one in Sacramento and one in Los Angeles.

We got back to our room about 9. We each take a shower. Sherri does some laundry in her scrub-a-wash bag. Drying will take a while.I string a line for the clothes to dry-at least the socks and underwear. The shirts will take a bit more. Looks tacky in this room. By 11:15, we are in bed.