Gary-Summer: Black Rock

Showing posts with label Black Rock. Show all posts

Saturday, September 2, 2023

September 2, 2023 - Delilah Lookout

Title: September 2, 2023 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type:Lookout

Description:

I woke up a couple of times last night to go pee. But at 0400 I woke up again and realized a couple of things: I needed to go pee again and it was raining. The first I try to ignore, but the second becomes urgent when a light flashes across my eyelids: lightning! The opening of my lightning report says it well

Clouds below Delilah

There is nothing like the gentle patter of rain on a tin lookout roof to awaken you at 0400. And then the flash of lightning at 0415 to get your heart beating faster. And now there is the gentle sway of Delilah in a pretty good wind to get me going. And when I opened the door this morning, there was the smell of smoke-but none observed yet coming from the ground. So you are getting this lightning report straight from a direct observer as well as my usual source. Even as I am writing this email, the area around Buck Rock is getting additional lightning-looks like on Spanish Mountain.

For the next hour I sat on a lightning stool. Sherri stayed in her bed. Once the threat of lightning went away, I fired up my trusty laptop and put together my lightning report. And now my troubles begin getting out the report. I got a couple of strikes from yesterday, which does not surprise me. But where are the strikes from this morning? Maybe I tried too quickly? I inquired again and again for another hour, and still got nothing. So I issued the report with only yesterday’s lightning with the caveat that this morning’s lightning was missing.

Where is Smith Meadow

We have our breakfast of oatmeal, granola and a cinnamon roll. Then after Buck Rock goes in service at 0728, we go in at 0730. Buck Rock does not have visibility-and as it turns out this is for most of the day. We both have had precip-he reports wind and we report lightning. And now begins our long 11 ½ hour day on duty.

Gary trying to see smoke from Smith Mdw

Most of this time is spent doing scans, listening to the radio and lounging around. Our visibility is about 10 miles, But there are so many water dogs and low clouds that I am not sure we would be able to find a fire even if there was one. Several of them give me pause, such as one on Dude Ridge where the water dog looks like it comes from a stack of wood. I stared at that for a long time before deciding it was not a smoke. We also took the weather-no worries about low humidity.

Ar 1000 there is a report of smoke at Smith Meadow. Where is that? Once we figure that out, we start looking for smoke in that area. Smith Meadow is just south of Wishon. We cannot see into the meadow, but the area around it. There is a big, long, gray cloud stretching from where the meadow is westward to close to Black Rock. We radio in what we see. Also if this is a smoke plume, which we have our doubts, that what we are seeing is a smoke. Sierra gets a response team to identify where the smoke is. There is an occasional question throughout the next several hours on what are we seeing? Just more clouds. Also one of the patrols emails me and wonders if I have anything further on the lightning from this morning-nothing. By mid-afternoon, clouds have come into the area. Also the roads in the area have been impacted by Hurricane Hilary. So they have looked over the area, they call off the search for the fire.

Could you spot the smoke? Bottom frame-filtered

While we are looking into this area, we scan in other areas with negative results-like a COVID test, this is good. But we do pay attention to what is going on around us. Near Woodward Creek, there is a tree threatening the General’s Highway. So Division 3 gets a crew together, including a borrowed frontloader to bring down the tree and clear the highway.

Or later on that afternoon, there was a report of a lost group down in the Millwood area. So a patrol is sent down road 13S70. He eventually found them: in Abbott Creek. First the people had gotten hung up on a log and in the process of freeing the vehicle, it ended up in the creek. This was a job for tomorrow to bring in a tow truck to get the vehicle out. Tomorrow there will be a continuation to the story.

Then at 1627 there was a report of a fire in Watts Valley. We should be able to see this. But there is a lot of haze today which is blending anything white with it. But after looking for about 5-7 minutes we are able to see it coming over a ridge to the east of Hog Mt. We report what we see to Sierra. It is a Fresno-Kings CalFire incident. So we tune into a CalFire station. We see the smoke decrease and disappear.

We usually go out of service at 1800. But being a holiday weekend, we have been asked to stay on until 1900. This is better than the 2000 which we do on other holiday weekends. Nothing else happens to us. There is a fire in Sierra National Forest called the Providence fire, but it is beyond what we can see. Sounds like it is a single, large tree.

We have our dinner, a pulled bar-b-que pork for dinner. No, Sherri did not roast it up here, but had made it Thursday night for dinner. Still tasty after a long day. After going down, we hit our beds around 2100. It has been a tiring day.

Background

Lightning Stool. I should add or chair. While the lookout is pretty well grounded, occasionally a lookout is struck, after all, it is a steel structure sticking high up in the air. To doubly secure the lookout, there is both a stool and chair in each lookout with the old glass electrical insulators attached to its legs. The idea is that if there is any electrical seepage from a lightning, the glass insulators will provide a barrier to electricity.

Extra Photo's

Evening Clouds

Looking east from the base of Delilah

Clouds by Goat Saddle

Park and McKenzie Ridges

Where we were trying to spot a smoke

Pine Ridge Clouds

Clearer picture of Watts Valley Smoke

Sunday, September 6, 2020

September 6, 2020 - Delilah

Title: September 6, 2020 - Delilah
Hike Info : Description

Trail head: Delilah Lookout

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Please note: This is not a record of the Creek Fire. We were at Delilah Lookout, 25-30 miles away from the action. Below is a combination of my recollection, Forest Service radio communications, text and e-mail conversations with those who know fire. Consequently, this blog entry should be read from the perspective of a person who had a narrow, but interesting window into fighting the Creek Fire and the rescues which all the first responders achieved.

Description:

A new day. What will it bring? Smoke obviously. But will there be good news from the Creek Fire? Will there be an expansion? How about all of the people who needed to get out at Mammoth Pool or China Peak?

The sun gives a hint about the smoke. It rises right where the moon rose last night, over Converse Mountain. Today it is a fiery red ball with the trees being silhouetted.

Both Shuteye and Mt Tom Lookouts are now endangered. Shuteye has left its lookout and is heading down the mountain. He has not been heard from in a while. Mt Tom is leaving soon. At 0848 there is good news that the Shuteye lookout has been heard from and is safely out of the danger zone. We follow on the radio Mt Tom’s lookout leaving. He stops on the way out and finds a car covered in ash. No trace of the occupants.

We go inservice at 0800. Once again, we have a low RH-17%. Not a good sign. At 1020 we notify Porterville that we only have 2 to 3 miles of visibility. It is hot! Outside, it is 96⁰. But inside it is over 100⁰. and it is going to get warmer. Fortunately, we have been able to cool it down a bit to about 96⁰. Usually the mornings are hot at Delilah followed by breezes going up the Canyon, cooling down the tower. But today those breezes do not come up. And at 1500, we have even less visibility.

And then there are the people at Mammoth Pool and China Peak. Mammoth Pool looks like a large helicopter came in and lifted them out-maybe several trips. Not sure. But it sounds like there may still be a few more people down there. If this is true, that has got to be an amazing evacuation. My understanding is that they still cannot get into Mammoth Pool via a land route-the fire is still raging there.

On China Peak, it sounds like they were able to get people out last night with their vehicles. From what we heard is that they brought people up 168 until Tamarack Ridge and then took some of the Dinkey Creek roads down to where Dinkey Creek is. On the other hand, I heard they brought out the Wishon and Courtwright people down Black Rock Road to Balch Camp. When Sherri and I did this in June I was glad we were going up it, not down it. I think the rangers agree with that assessment as it was reported that a group of campers-found some drivers who were soberish to drive down Black Rock Road.

There are also backpackers coming out of the backcountry. Some are congregating at VVR. Also at Florence Lake. We also heard them say that they should stop at Blayney Meadows. I have got to assume they will airlift them out as well.

Fog or Smoke?

1530 and we see a blanket of smoke enveloping the tower like a fog bank. Even though it is hot, we have closed all of the windows and the door to keep out the smoke. Our inside temperature climbs from about 94⁰ to over 100 ⁰. We cannot tell how hot-the indoor thermometer only says “Hi”. We have a discussion first between Sherri and I and then with the group about vacating the lookout. We decided that if the conditions are the same at 1600, we will vacate-probably not coming back up tomorrow as we will not have visibility.

1600 rolls around and no improvement. We notify our group of plans. Wendy says that BC32 is in agreement. When I talk with him to confirm our decision, he also says to let Div 3 know when we go out of service. We go out of service a few minutes after 1700.

We made it back home by about 1930 with no problems. Wonder if we will be back up at Delilah this year?

===========

I thought I might venture a trip back to Delilah on Labor Day, Monday, Sept 7th. Looking at Delilah’s webcams, there would be no value as it was very much all smoked over and no visibility.

Friday, July 17, 2020

July 17, 2020 - Balch Camp

Title: July 17, 2020 - Balch Camp
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's :Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Car

Description:

Another In Search Of… adventure. Last time we were at Delilah Lookout, we found out that Balch Camp has a Heliport. We spent some time looking for it and maybe saw a spot of a road going into it. So Balch Camp has been put onto our list of places to go to. Not that we are expecting anything real scenic, but more so we can have an understanding of what we are seeing from Delilah.

Note: usually I write my blog as a diary form. On this one, it is more of a series of incidences. Each Incidence is preceded by a number which corresponds to the number on the map.

We left our house in Fresno around 10am with Sherri driving. She drove around about two-thirds of Pine Flat Reservoir and then turned over the driving to me.
Trash. On July 4th, we were listening to the radio at Delilah. A patrol passed over the first bridge after Pine Flat. He saw two parties which had an illegal fire and had trashed the place. We passed by the area and now had a better understanding of what the patrol saw.
Balch Camp Heliport. A couple of things, Delilah looks right down onto Balch Camp. So we were interested in seeing it. From Delilah, I could not make out what the buildings looked like-it is 7 miles away. But the housing looks pretty modern, maybe nothing fabulous, but definitely not slum housing. One of the things we do in the tower is make sure we know our territory. In going through my list of places on July 5th, I came across Balch Camp Heliport. I had not seen a Heliport down there before so we started looking closer, even using Celeste to assist us. Nothing definite. So we visited the Heliport. It is across Dinkey Creek and up a ways. It definitely looks like a place for a helicopter to land. I think it is mostly a place PG&E uses as there were some insulators laying on some pallets. Could we see Delilah? A big maybe.
Penstocks. These pipes seemed to be a favorite of Brent’s when he was training us at Delilah. One of the orientation points we verify our firefinder with are a set of penstocks on Patterson Bluffs. To get here, we recross Dinkey Creek and travel up Black Rock Road (Road 11S12). Let me just say, I am glad I do not travel this every day. It is paved, with potholes. But they are not bad. I am just glad we did not meet another vehicle coming down. The road is that narrow. One side is granite, the other side is a drop off of several hundred feet. Not many alternatives. Now the penstocks themselves are impressive. There are two of them, about five feet in diameter. They run from the top of Patterson Bluffs to the North Fork of the Kings, at least a 4,000’ drop. It is about 95^o F where we are at. But touching the penstock, they are cool from the water rushing through them.
Bicyclist. Another impressive thing is while we are going up this narrow road, we meet a bicyclist. He is sweating like crazy. Did I say it is hot? He admits his craziness in doing this. He is heading towards Black Rock Reservoir. We ask if he needs anything? He wonders if we have some spare water? Yes, we have a litter bottle of water and give it to him. We then continue on our way.
PG&E We meet our only vehicles within a couple of miles of the bicyclist. We tell them that there is a bicyclist up ahead. They look at us like we are crazy.

Black Rock Reservoir
Black Rock Reservoir. We came up this road because of being interested in seeing Black Rock Reservoir. Now the question is, do we want to go down the two miles to get to it? We hemmed and hawed about this decision. The decision is that we would continue to go on up the road, 11S18 and see how far we get on that dirt road.

Black Rock Reservoir
Haas Penstock. These are the penstocks we learned about last year when the sun hit them just right. This penstock is maybe 4’ in diameter and only goes down about 3,000’-only 3,000’-into Black Rock Reservoir. Not as photogenic as the Patterson penstocks, still impressive enough.
Rancheria Creek Falls

Rancheria Creek Falls. This dirt road is not too bad. Not very many ruts or potholes. It does climb pretty good to get up to the level of Wishon Reservoir-we do not go that way. We come to a place which has a lot of flat rock and a small ridge. Sounds like a good place to stop and look out over the canyon we climbed up. When I looked across the canyon, there was a waterfall which Iam surprised at. I was not expecting anything like it. Really a good fall.

Flat Place
Patrol 43. After leaving our falls, we drive for another couple of miles. We see a Sierra National Forest patrol parked by the side of the road. I think he was surprised anybody would come up that way. We introduce ourselves saying we sometimes hear him on the radio when we are at Delilah Lookout. Sherri and him talk for a few minutes and then we are on our way.
Sequoia at McKinley Grove

McKinley Grove. This is by Dinkey Creek. We get out and enjoy the Sequoias. A few other people are there. We take a stroll on the paved path around the grove, just soaking in the tree’s beauty. Sherri thinks we have been here before, I am not so sure. She is probably right-I just do not remember.
Hungry Hut. I am hungry. We have not had lunch, so an early dinner is in order. There is no indoor seating. But about half the people have masks and the other half do not. Sherri goes and orders our meal. Mine is a classic cheeseburger, Sherri’s is a tri-tip sandwich. We go over to the Shaver Lake Library and park in the shade and enjoy our dinner.
Buckeye Heliport. You would think we would be tired of heliports by now. On July 3rd we heard a report of a smoke at a Buckeye Heliport. Where in the world is this? After hearing a bit more, we found out it is most of the way up the four-lane going to Shaver Lake. We did not see smoke and they did not find anything either. But we at least figured out where it was and what it looks like now.

We continued on home. It was decided that stopping at Costco for gas could wait another day since it was Friday and 5:15 already. We made it home by 5:30, tired, but glad we did this.

Background

Penstock From Wikipedia: a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills

Haas Penstock. This penstock is part of PG&E’s system on the North Fork of the Kings River. This includes Courtwright and Wishon dams, whih is where the water which feeds this penstock and others comes from. (Wikipedia) In the May 2011 Currents magazine, which is PG&E’s rag, it has a picture of the Haas Powerhouse.

Extra Photo's