Gary-Summer: Millwood

Showing posts with label Millwood. Show all posts

Saturday, September 5, 2026

September 5, 2026 - Delilah

Title: September 5, 2026 - Delilah

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Animals

Hike Info:

Type:Lookout

Description:

Friday, September 4, 2026

I came in at the end of Delilah’s Friday shift because it is a three day weekend and the traffic is usually terrible. Sherri made me chicken cordon bleu for a lunch/dinner. I ran a few errands before leaving at 1515. While there was pretty good traffic until Centerville, it flowed along smoothly. I made better time than I thought I was going to.

Once I turned off of 180, I met no one. I stopped at a couple of places to look over things, such as the Armenian/Hye Camp and the area which Davis Road runs through.

Outhouse View

I made it to Delilah by 1715 where I was met by Richard-not that person whom I was expecting. Richard is one of the two leads for Delilah. He said that there was something which happened last night where he needed to come up. It was good that I came up early and it was good to talk with him face to face. I closed out the evening at Delilah and went out of service in quarters.

I felt tired, so I laid down for a while. Then I had a sandwich. Finally, I finished bringing up my stuff. Either I am getting weaker or packing more stuff. The stuff at the end of the pulley felt really heavy. When I was going up and down the stairs, I realized I did not bring my knee brace. It did not hurt too bad. There was a hunter who drove by. He indicated he was bow hunting and looking for deer.

After I got things sorted out, I decided to go back down and see if I could take some evening shots of the tower and stars. I was somewhat successful on the tower, not so much on the stars.

When I went back up, I let Sherri know that I was available for a call. Then I crawled into my bag and read and waited for her call. About 2100 she called. We talked for 45 minutes, then I read a bit more until shortly before 23000.

Delilah from the road

Saturday, September 5, 2026

It felt like a short night of sleep last night. When the moon rose, I woke up for a while, but not because of the brightness, but just to gaze on it. Like the sun which causes the moon to fade from view, the moon causes stars to grow dim to our eyes. Isn’t this like how heaven will be? We think we see clearly now, but we do not. When heaven comes, we will see that our current times are just a ghost of reality. What is more, even heaven will fade before the glory of God. If our hymns could only capture a bit of this!

Having rambled on with my thoughts-no apologies, just realizing this is what was going through my mind. I did look for lightning on EGP, but there was none. I had my breakfast and then went down to the ground. On the way down, I realized that things did not feel quite right with the body. Not feeling sick or bad or achy like the flu. More breathing harder than I should going down.

After taking care of the things which were on the pulley, I decided to go for a walk. Maybe that would help out whatever is happening. As it turned out, I probably walked too far and up too much. If anything I was breathing harder and not feeling better. Also the heart was beating pretty good on the uphill. At least a good part of this walk back is downhill. That helped with the breathing and heart. But there is a climb back up to the base of the lookout. Which I take easy, but I still feel winded, fortunately not lightheaded or feeling like I will faint. But I am careful not to push it. That was only about a two mile, 50 minute walk.

I still have the climb back into the tower, which I make, stopping at each landing. These stops would have been a good picture break, but I have done that so many times, not sure what would be different. When I get back into the cab, I laid down to get my body back into a comparatively normal state.

I did the normal going into service stuff-flag raising, weather taking and scanning. Then went into service at 0930. I was the last one in. Then it was pretty much a normal, quiet Delilah morning.That is until three visitors showed up. What made them unusual is they appeared on bikes, mountain bikes. They came up and I showed them around. The usual visitor, not that I would know this year, will come up, look around, ask a question or two, ask if I stay up here at night and leave. Maybe 10-15 minutes, just enough to catch a breath and go back.

These three stayed for 30-40 minutes. The three had come from Millwood and were a bit out of breath from the hills. They asked about various places and roads in the area and did not seem to be too concerned about leaving anytime soon. They stayed for over half an hour and were very content with the visit as they got to see areas around them which they normally do not see. One person was from Squaw Valley, the other two from Clovis.

And then it is back to the normal day. At 1100, I responded to the Sierra Lookout Checkin. Then it is doing the scans. I am still tired from this morning and still not feeling right. I lay down for 15 minutes until the next scan. This continues through the morning until lunch time.

At 1230 I fixed my lunch-peanut butter and Nutella sandwich along with some chips. But then I faintly hear a call on R5 Project, our off command channel calling out Delilah. Turns out it is 335 trying to reach a couple of her staff. They are down in the Kings. I try to reach out to either of them. The Kings is far enough down where we cannot directly reach them. I also try on Channel 2, which is a command channel using repeaters.I do reach them and say what the message is, but I cannot hear their replay. Porterville does get a response from them. Not sure how well I relayed the message, but the jest of what is being transmitted. I do not do many relays. I knew the mechanics, but not sure how well I would execute in reality. I gave myself a middling grade.

During all of this, I knocked over my carton of milk. I ended up having to remove the glass on the desk and cleaning up under it, along with some papers there. Sigh, not the way I wanted to down my milk nor to conduct a relay.

I do the weather and fall into the familiar patter of scanning. About 1400, I heard the sound of a propeller. I realized it was coming out of the south, but could not see it. I am also seeing that there are hang gliders off Sontag Point. If there is something flying out there and it is low, how to warn them about the gliders. By the time I recognize it, it is flying over where Davis and Delilah Road meet. It is a helicopter and I can see the id of N551HQ on it. As it flys by I wave and they acknowledge. That makes my day much more than spilling milk. I follow them on FlightAware as they go out over Pine Flat Reservoir and head northwest.

Because the helicopter's path should have flown right in front of Park Ridge Lookout, I called over to him. He did not either see or hear it. I am a bit surprised, but I know that depending on the wind and direction and if he was busy with something else, he may not notice it. We talked for a while. He mentioned that a similar helicopter had gone by earlier that day going south. There was a SAR effort around Moro Rock which this may have been part of. This may be because I noticed on FlightAware history, it had lifted off from Ash Mountain.

I go back to my scanning. There is not much exciting. Well maybe just a little. As I am doing one of the scans, I looked over at Pine Flat Reservoir. There I see another helicopter. When I look at FlightAware, I see that it is a CHP helicopter. It flies off towards Sanger. Wonder what they are doing out there? A rescue? Looking for a pot farm? Something else illegal? I guess I will never know.

Around 1800, I prepare my dinner. This is Birdseye Alfredo Chicken Skillet Meal and a couple pieces of bread. Pretty easy, just heat it up and service. I will confess, not my favorite. But it is a good dinner meal.

As the shadows start to deepen, I continue my scans until 1930, which is the end of the shift. There was a nice sunset with a layer of clouds. Looked almost fiery at times. After I went out of service, I went down and got a few things, then locked myself in.

Around 2030, Sherri and I talk for a while, at least until 2130. I then look at my phone for a bit more before going to sleep.

Extra Photo's

Sunset through the trees

Sunset and Pine Flat Reservoir

Valley Lights at Sunset

Animals

Hummers

Whose Track? I think a bobcat

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

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