July 4, 2025 = Park Ridge Lookout

 

Title: July 4, 2025 - Park Ridge Lookout

Hike Info : Description :  Menu 

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

 

Description:

Chuck's Flag

Maybe I learned my lesson from yesterday. I got up a few minutes earlier. But that was futile as there was no lightning to report. I am glad of that. I got up and started packing as today is my last day in the tower. I get about a third of my stuff down. At least that is a start. Wendy had asked for a new US flag to be put up. Her late husband had wanted that to occur each 4th of July and I am happy to be the one this year to carry on that tradition. I wanted to get a picture of it at sunrise with the wind unfurling it. But the wind did not cooperate. Later it unfurls.

I am able to go for a short walk, maybe a third of a mile. But this feels good. Then back to the tower where I have my breakfast. At 0800 I went into service with both Porterville and Ash Mountain Fire. About 30 minutes later I realize I have not heard either Buck Rock or Delilah go into service. I phoned over and had a conversation with Jeff. Both have gone into service. Maybe they got lost in the static. Or maybe I need to clear ear wax out of my ears. Then it is off the normal duties of a lookout.

 

Early Morning light

 

Bluebird sky days are a joy to a lookout. When you have haze, it is tough to make out anything and your eyes strain to discern objects. The white of the smoke blends in with the dinginess of the air. But today is a day which I can see almost forever. I can see the foothills of the Coastal Range plainly along with its tops. I suspect if I was at Delilah, I might be able to see into Yosemite. A day to love being up here.

On this kind of weekend you get to hear interesting stuff. At the Crystal Springs Campground a cooler and trash can was impounded. I am assuming that foodstuff was not put away and people were not around. Sounds like a bear hazard to me. Or then there are maybe too many people in a place at one time. The Wolverton Road was closed to traffic due to both congestion and too many people parking alongside the road. Just heard that Lodgepole road is closed as well, except for those going into the campground.

Then this morning as I was doing a scan, I noticed a marmot eyeballing my car. It seemed hesitant to approach it. Yesterday someone asked about marmots and I talked about how cars over in Mineral King had to take preventative measures. So I watched him pretty closely. When he goes under my car, I hurry down the stairs to scare him off. But he emerges from the other side and eyeballs me, like he should be the one who is concerned about me. He runs off to some rocks and I resume my lookout activities.

Coastal Range

 

Wendy called me up and told me that my relief is expected to be here around 1700 or 1800. He will call me up. Also talked about some wildlife Buck Rock saw this morning. Things could get interesting if this sighting is verified.

My Favorite Marmot

Fuzzy's Bench

Now I am hearing a woodpecker tapping out his staccato beat on a tree. Another joy of being up here is seeing and hearing the sounds and sights of nature. I wonder what the woodpecker is going to hide and will he remember where he has hidden it?

Lunch, or dinner, is the remains of a couple enchiladas which Sherri made for lookout. I cleaned up the dishes in preparation for leaving this afternoon. This is just the start of cleaning up the cab, not that I had created a huge mess or anything. Still crumbs fall and things get spread out.

 

 

Yesterday there was a fire near Marvin Pass. Yesterday when I looked on WildCAD I saw it as the Gammon Fire. Usually fires are named after some landmark around it. But there was nothing in the area we saw with Gammon nor could I find it on GNIS. Today I was hearing the Incident Commander Trainee calling himself the Gannon IC Trainee-with two N’s. I looked on WildCAD and it said Gannon. There is a Gannon Creek there. When I looked on GNIS, it had been named in 2000. Most of our maps are pretty old, so it is no surprise that we could not find why it was called the Gannon fire.

The last two hours of a shift, particularly on leaving day, are the longest. I am expecting that call saying when my relief is coming. And as that is not coming, the time is even longer. Still there is only 7,200 seconds to count. During that time I get the fire indices, clean the floor and countertops and pack the last of my stuff.

This has been an unexpected day. It is the Fourth of July. I was expecting a ton of visitors. Instead, there was not a single one. At 1800, I go out of service, and start back. I meet my relief on the road. We exchange greetings and I relay some information to him. And then we are both on our way. A short way further I realize there were a couple more things to tell him and leave a voicemail. It is an uneventful drive back home, arriving shortly before 2000.

Menu

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Granola	Enchilada	Peanut Butter and Nutella Sandwich	Ritz Cracker, Granola, Jelly Belly

April 6, 2022 - Topokah Falls

 

Title: April 6, 2022 - Topokah Falls
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking 

Trail head: Lodgepole Campground

Trail: Topokah Falls Trail

Destination: Topokah Falls

Distance:  5.18 miles

Start Time: 10:37

End Time:    2:42

Travel Time: 4:05  (1.27 mph)

Moving Time:  3:24  (1.52 mph)

Elevation Rise: 917 '

Descent: 897‘

Maximum Elevation: 7,335'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Today is a special day for us-notice the us? Sherri will be going on this hike-the first hike after her surgery. It is less than 4 miles and around a 400’ rise. Also I have told her that if she wants or needs to, I will turn back with her. All of this allows her to feel confident about the day.

Sherri, John and Ken at start of hike

We will leave from home and meet up with the CVHG at Lodgepole. We managed to leave a bit later than I thought we would. So I think we are behind the group. We stop at Big Stump for its facilities, before continuing on. This takes us down the General’s Highway. Shortly after turning off of the Wye, we see the devastation of the KNP Complex Fire. This will be with us all the way down to Lodgepole. There is sadness as we observe the charred remains of trees once green and majestic.

Warning sign

We get to Lodgepole and notice two things. First, the way to the trailhead is blocked. Second, we see Betty and only Betty in the parking lot. Evidently we are not dragging up the rear. Betty tells us that Ken and Bobby have gone up the road, but no sign of the rest of the Fresno group. They pull in about half an hour after us. So we had a good time catching up with Betty.

 

 

Marble Fork of the Kaweah

 It looks like we have between three-quarter to a mile more than we thought because of the blocked off road. Fortunately there is not much of a slope. John has us stop at the trailhead to get a picture. Then off we go. I manage to slip towards the back with Sherri and the usual back of the group friends. This gives me a chance occasionally to take a picture.

The trail is dry, at least at the start. But there is snow across the Marble Fork of the Kaweah. my prediction was that we would encounter snow on the trail and maybe some ice. While I feel I was pretty good with my prediction, I am glad that the condition of the trail did not meet my expectation, or fear.

Unnamed rivelet

The trail goes up a little bit more than I was expecting. But we all are doing good. The river is flowing nicely beneath us with a nice sun shining on us. Not too badly, just enough to keep us warm. We crossed several dry ravines. This is not a good sign for later on in the season.

 

 

 

 

 

Crossing a patch of snow

Something about this group is that there are hikers who are pretty strong in their hiking. They have a tendency to soot ahead to the end of the trail pretty fast.Of course, they end up waiting. Me? Lately I have been on the other end. At least today I am not huffing and puffing too badly. 

First sighting of Falls

 There are some of the creeks flowing across the trail as we get close to the falls. I think one of them is called Horse Creek-there are many creeks by that name. Once past the creeks, we start catching glimpses of the falls. Also the trees recede and we are more in the granite. A couple people feel that they are seeing the falls and it is time to turn back. I give Sherri the option, but she wants to get a bit closer, so we charge ahead.

 

 

Jerry has gone ahead to start herding people back down the trail. So we get to greet many people while we make our way up the final section of trail. One of these groups is Jan and Cathy-not the Cathey of John and Cathey. Turned out she had been on our last Wawona hike. She showed appreciation for our organizing it. Always good to hear.

Topokah Falls

And now we approach the end of the trail. The last hundred feet of the trail has snow over it. We decide that is as far as we are going to go. We take a few pictures, look over the falls and turn back. After a while, Betty is waiting for us. We talk together until Sherri and I break for lunch.

And now we are on our way back. There is none of our group behind us, even though there are several other families who have made the trip up. Sherri and I enjoy our saunter back down the trail. There is a sense that this hike is longer than we thought it would be, but we have enough energy to finish it well. Sometimes going back down a trail, you see things at a different angle, or you get to look down a valley instead of up a ridge. These things make a hike back both the same, yet different.

 

 

 

Sherri looking down Topokah Valley

Towards the end of the trail,we catch up with Betty, John, Cathay and Ken. It is good to come onto the trail all together. Most of the rest of the gang is going home via Three Rivers. There is a good, relaxing restaurant/bar on the Kaweah with good food. But Sherri and I are pretty tuckered out and will go straight home. It has been a longer day than Sherri anticipated and she sleeps much of the way back. So glad she did this hike.

 

 
Extra Photo's

Topokah Falls

Snow Field off of the Watchtower

Watchtower

Interesting little unnamed falls

Gary

Marble Fork of the Kaweah

Watchtower

Sherri, Gary and Topokah Falls

September 17, 2019 - Park Ridge Lookout

Title: September 17, 2019 - Park Ridge Lookout
Hike Info : Description :  Background 

Trail head: Park Ridge Lookout

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

I got up around 0515 this morning. Sherri has an OSHER class this afternoon and will also be picking up a friend at the airport. So I will be up at Park Ridge Lookout alone. Maybe a bit nervous about my stamina-after all, I am used to taking naps in the afternoon. I had gotten most everything packed last night, so I was able to dilly-dally around the house some. I still left a little before 0700.

I get up to the Visitor Center pretty early-stop in to say, Park Ridge Lookout is open today. They promise to send some visitors. Then it is up to the lookout I go. I get in at 0840. It seems like I have a lot less stuff to take up to the lookout. On the other hand, there is just me, so there should be less and just one day up here. On my third hand, there is only me to sherpa the stuff up. I get myself situated before 0900.

After taking the weather, I set up Celeste so it would be ready for duty. At 0929, I go in-service with both Ash Mountain and Porterville. Today the air is clear and I take a look with Celeste at what appears to be a cloud. With Celeste’s eyes, I pretty much confirmed it is a cloud. At 1000 I hear Porterville’s weather and staffing. But then Ash Mountain starts in with their staffing, I catch what I need from Ash Mountain, but I will need to get a bit more used to it.

You know that clear air I was so happy with earlier? I am in a cloud-I know, some of you will say that I am perpetually in a cloud. But this is a literal clouds. Fun watching the mists starting to swirl to the south of the lookout. But then they no longer are swirling, but are surrounding the lookout. I call in to both Ash Mountain and Porterville that I am now lacking visibility. I can see the trees in front of the cabin, but nothing more than a quarter of a mile. What use is a lookout who cannot see?

Looking towards a cloud covered Eshom area

What use indeed! I get out my “favorite” lookout activity-cleaning the windows. I got done the west windows when a couple of visitors from Illinois came up. Without the sun and the moisture from the cloud around the lookout, inside the cab is definitely warmer than outside-I think our outside temp barely got above 50 anytime during the day. They were interested in all aspects of a lookout, so we spent an hour or so talking about things, ranging from the firefinder to what are the best hiking trails around-my stock answer is the one I am on now-of course, I am not on a trail, … But then gave them some ideas, such as Redwood Mountain/Canyon. Right before they left, the clouds lifted and you could see to the west and north. That was a proper send off. They were so impressed that they wanted a picture with me. I almost feel like a celebrity.

Big Baldy basking in sunlight

The Illinois group parting words were they would probably be the last visitors I had today. But about 10 minutes later-just enough to finish a scan-I had a group of four. After talking with them I found out that they were a group of engineers who used to work together at Port Hueneme. But that was 30 years ago and now they are scattered around the United States-from Redding to Virginia. They come out to hike with each other once a year. They ask all kinds of questions, such as is it wetter now than before (not really, we have had drought years 6 out of the last 8). That lead into the Rough Fire-they had been to Cedar Grove and noted the devastation along the Ten Mile Creek area, where are the best places to hike-I got that question a lot today. After about 20 minutes, they went down below and had lunch.

Shell Mountain

 As the group of engineers left, I noticed two people coming up the road-they were walking at a pretty good clip. I figure that soon I would have more company, so I did a scan-did not see any smoke. The two of them ended up eating lunch at the RAWS station, just under the south east corner of the lookout. I noticed that they were using hand signals, like deaf people use. Usually we will shout down to encourage people to come up to the catwalk and look around. But this seemed a bit inappropriate. So I went down to them-it is only 20’ after all. Would I have gone down at Delilah? I made some hand signs-definitely not sign language stuff, but it seemed to be effective in communicating-that it was OK to go up to the tower. I returned to the cabin to continue my looking around.

Southeast of Park Ridge

After they finished lunch, they came up. This was possibly the start of my best time with visitors. It turns out that neither of them could either hear or speak. Definitely would be an interesting time. And it was. The two women are from San Luis Obispo and are staying at Lodgepole. They are really interested in all things in the lookout. How do I know? We communicate by writing out our inquiries and the answers to them. Of course, they probably had a bit of amusement trying to interpret my handwriting. They asked about the firefinder, radio, how long I had been a lookout, and many other questions. Not being able to speak the answers, forced me to think about the answers and how to answer things concisely. It was a good exercise for me. They asked if I hike or drive in-drive. But I have hiked it several times. They then asked about good places to hike-told them about Crescent Meadows, Watchtower and the Lakes. I drew out where these were on a map. They left after about an hour-seemed like they were pleased with our conversation. I was sorry to see them go. Sometimes you meet people and are happy that you have met them. With these two women, I was glad I was able to talk with them and would have liked them to stay. It would be good to know them better.

Celeste looking

That was the last of the visitors for the day. I could then do my regular lookout activities-you know, scanning, observing, becoming more familiar with the area, taking care of Celeste. You know making sure that Celeste sees the sights around Park Ridge-Buena Vista Peak, Shell Mountain, the General Grant Tree and other scenes. As closing time approaches, I start cleaning up the place-mopping the floor, cleaning the counter tops, and the like. I never did get beyond cleaning the west windows. At 1730, Buck Rock and I have a conversation. She has been silent for much of the day-been away at a meeting at the District office. And now it is time to go out of service with Porterville and Ash Mountain.

Celeste's view of the General Grant Tree

I feel like I had a good day, but one of my main objectives is not been accomplished-to relearn the area. The terrain I have no issues, well maybe only a little bit of issue. But the various populate locales, I definitely do not have down. Such as the Hilltop Church Wendy pointed out to us a couple of years ago-I just could not find it. It will have to wait for another time. This maybe my last time here this year. A prescribed burn is scheduled to take place on or after September 27th which will close down the lookout. On the way home, I stop for a bite to eat at Bear Mountain Pizza. Then I make it back home by 2030.

Background

There are some things which are hard to break. When you learn something in childhood, you use a phrase without thinking about it. One of these is the term “deaf and dumb.” I have always understood the term “dumb” was in line with the older usage of it-that a person could not speak. But there is the new usage which denotes a lack of intelligence. The reason why I note this is that in one of the logs, I noted the two women who came up as “deaf and dumb.” But then on further reflection, I realize that this is probably an insensitive usage. In looking around the web, I was able to confirm this. But I did not come across anything which would be a good replacement. It was mostly things like being sensitive to what a person would like to be called. That really does not help me.

July 9, 2019 - Park Ridge Lookout

(Picture is from May 2019)

Title: July 9, 2019 - Park Ridge Lookout
Hike Info : Description :  Background :  Extra Photo's

Trail head: Park Ridge Lookout

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout


Description:

In some ways, this was a non-eventful day. In other ways, we kept busy enough to be tired by the time 1800 rolled around.

It has been two years since we have staffed Park Ridge Lookout. While familiar with it, we will need to get reacquainted. To that end, Wendy was going to come up and refresh us on the lookout. But she may or may not be able to make it because of car issues. While I think we will do OK, it would be good to have that little bit extra in seeing how to operate this lookout again.

Afternoon view towards Eshom Point

We leave at 0700 and make good progress up the hill. There is a stop at the Grant Grove Visitor Center both for personal relief and just to let them know Park Ridge will be staffed today. Then up the Panorama Point road we go. Not a bad drive in. One place where there is a spring was at all questionable, and there was no problem with that.

We parked in front of the lookout at 0845. I wanted to get up a bit early to familiarize ourselves before going into service. So we were able to take things in a relaxed manner. Also Park Ridge sits only 20’ off of the ground, versus the 80’ of Delilah. So it is a lot easier making multiple trips back to our truck to get stuff. Also since we are only staying today, there is not as much to lug up. So we get settled in pretty quickly.

Mill Flat Creek and the Kings River area

The morning weather is taken and we go in-service to both Porterville (Sequoia NF) and Ash Mountain Fire (SEKI). Our first adventure of the day. When we go in-service with Porterville, we do not hear a response. So I call up dispatch and find out that they heard us and responded. They do a radio check which we hear-I screw up the standard response of “Loud and Clear.” But they understand we are amateurs. 




 

Mt Silliman

Now to get an Internet connection. Why you might ask? There are certain things on the Internet, besides Facebook, which makes life a bit easier, particularly since the radio seems a bit problematic today. Such as we can pull down what is known as Fire Weather for the area. Also the staffing both for Sequoia NF and SEKI. We listen so we can confirm they are reading the same thing as what we pull down. But so far our success rate is in the high 90’s-once I pulled down the wrong day’s staffing.

Southeast towards Shell Mountain

The rest of the day was mostly spent doing regular lookout “stuff”. Scanning our area’s for smoke, listening to the radio, re-familiarizing ourselves with the territory. The last is where we missed not having Wendy up here. She is able to name area’s off the top of her head and then give us the background on what we are seeing. Knowing the background makes for the area more interesting.

Another difference between Delilah and Park Ridge. Today we got a total of seven visitors-this includes one baby. At Delilah, that would be an abundance of people. Two of the visitors were associated with the Park. The Dad works in law enforcement, but not on duty. We had a good chat about the different places he has been.

But along the interesting lines, at least in the tower it was, but probably not reading on this blog page, that static and unreadable condition coming out of Porterville? We heard a discussion between Delilah and Buck Rock about how unreadable was Porterville. We, as in Park Ridge Lookout, joined in this one and agreed that none of us was reliably hearing Porterville, but each other was coming in Loud and Clear. Also to add to Buck Rock’s woes, its phone was not functioning. So we agreed that Park Ridge could act as a relay if needed.

Do you see the smoke?

 There was a prescribed burn around Giant Forest called the Sherman Rx. It is behind Big Baldy. So we are not expecting to see it or at least nothing of significance. Big Baldy is a major part of our area, particularly since it has Redwood Canyon and Redwood Mountain in front of it. So we had been looking in that direction pretty well anyway. So far nothing. At 1115, Wendy texts me and asks if we are seeing anything from the Sherman Rx. Nothing of note. There was a bit of smoke up the Topakah area as well as drifting into the Valley when we got in this morning. But nothing to report. I texted back to Wendy to say that. Then took another look. Just to the right of the radio tower on top of Big Baldy is a little patch of smoke, hardly noticeable-probably some of the better lookouts would notice it right away. About 20 minutes later, we see a small smoke cloud to the left of the radio tower. After telling Wendy about it, she had me tell Delilah. He was at first not seeing it, then, like myself, saw the dirty cloud.

Smoke from the Sherman RX around the Big Baldy radio tower

When you listen to the radio, you hear all sorts of things. Such as Hume Lake reached its capacity and water needed to be let out-these Forest Service patrols do everything. Or at Lodgepole/Topakah area, there was a possible need for a swift-water rescue team. The report was that a female had fallen over the falls (I don’t think Topakah) and had managed to climb up on a rock in the middle of the river. Turned out that she was able to get to safety before SAR was able to get there.

Needle Dump Smoke

Then our little bit of excitement happened. Sherri spots a column of smoke west of us. First thought is that it was from the Needle Dump area. This is a spot which Sherri and I hiked last year, so we were familiar with it. After confirming the distance and direction as being the Needle Dump, we called in Ash Mountain Fire to report the smoke there. They just want to know rather than calling in a fire. Still excitement for us.

At 1650, we went out of service with Ash Mountain Fire-they now have a normal 1700 ending time. We get one more visitor before we close up at 1800 with Porterville. We think we have left everything the way it should be-we shall find out when the next volunteer comes up and staff’s the place. Even though Wendy was not able to come up to Park Ridge, we were in communication with her-our own personal safety net. When we leave, the mud from the spring? There has been trucks coming in today to work on the Park’s telecomm next to us all day. What was easy to get through before is now a bit more interesting. Seems like the mud was sucking the tires in a bit. Our truck got through it OK. But I wonder about the next person.

The next order of business is what and where to eat. Neither of us are overpoweringly hungry, so we decided to go down the hill to the Clovis Red Robin-we have a coupon. Then it is home we go. Tired, but felt like we would like to go back up to Park Ridge again.

Background

Readable. A term used to say we are able to hear and understand the radio communications. When a check is done to see if the end point is hearing, the response is Loud and Clear. Or if there is static or the message cannot be understood, then it is Unreadable. Usually one end or another will change their communications such as which repeater they are using or which channel.

Relay. Exactly how it sounds. Sometimes there are reasons why a lookout can hear a unit, but the end unit cannot. This can happen because of range or a physical barrier such as a mountain. The lookout might be asked to take a message and relay the text to the end person. A whole conversation can be set up this way.

Extra Photo's

Needle Dump Smoke

Needle Dump Smoke