Lookout Log - June 24-25, 2003

June 24, 2003

Picture: 1627 hrs

My first solo shift!

Wow what a day.  I left my "day" job at 1600hrs to pick up the uniforms for my fellow tower crews at Kevin's house.  Got some gas, and some pop tarts for dinner and headed up Angeles Crest Highway.

I love the smell of diesel and just my luck I was escorted into the wilds by Engine 14.  Although not related to my travel to the Tower, it sure instilled in me a sense of great pride for these brave men and women that protect our nations resources.

It is said that "Volunteers are the Heartbeat of the Forest Service", but these part time and full timers sure have my salute for the jobs they do.

Got to the fire road gate that leads to the tower.  Trash on the ground next to the gate is "bear sign".  Happens a lot up here since we don't have bear cans yet.

It would be easy to say "Hey it's not my job to pick up trash" but then there is that pride of belonging to something bigger than myself so why not.  It only took three minutes and the extra pride in the forest will show.  

The gate is open now and it's only 1.1 miles up the dirt road to the Tower.  I lock the gate behind me.

Going up is scary because Mt. Bikers tend to fly down the dirt roads at high speed.  I keep an alert eye while going up.

Mt. Vetter Lookout Built in 1935, restored 1998

Ok, I'm excited... so much to do.  Got to remember all my training or George and Bob will kick my butt.  Well as best I can I begin to start the procedure to open up the tower.  It is pretty complex, not hard, just complex.

Ok, here I start.  There are 8 shutters, and 16 locks, each shutter is held in place by three wing nuts, so that is a total of 24 nuts (not counting me).  This is going to take a while.

(I love camera self timers and tripods)

Ok the first one is up, but something does not feel right.  What is it?  Hmmmm.  Time to start working on the second shutter, but... oh dang now I know what is wrong!

I forgot the 2x4 that is used to prop up the shutters for safety.   Uh oh.

For a moment I think that I can do it all without the 2x4, but then all those safety work poster slogans popped into my head, "Do it right or don't do it"... "Be Safe or Go Home"... "Better Red then Dead".  

Ok so here I am all alone in the woods on the top of a mountain, a rookie, with all the ingredients for disaster so I better do it right from the start.

I walk down the trail just past the out house to our storage garage and get the 2x4.  In this picture you can see my parking spot, a water tank and the outhouse.

Ok, radio in the back pocket in case I do get clobbered by the shutter number 2 or bit by a rattlesnake I can call for help.  The 2x4 is in place (thanks Bob for the training).

Notice the haze in the background showing each ridge.

(Camera is tilted)

All 8 shutters up.  Tower open and there is the wonderful bed with a view.  Got to go get the Osborne Fire Finder and put in on the center table.

Only a bed, table, and chairs are in the lookout.  We take all equipment out with us when we are away so there is nothing of value left behind.  But that also means we have to bring all that stuff up to work a shift.

"Angeles, Vetter Mountain, In Service, Lookout plus zero"

"Vetter Mountain, Angeles, copy, time 1745 hours"

The "lookout plus zero" means I'm alone.  This is how the fire crews report the number of people they have on site and I like to let them know that I'm up here all by myself.

It is like a big family working with the Forest Service.  They really care for the welfare of each other.

Not 5 minutes I'm open and I get two visitors walking up the stairs.  Then at 1755 I get two more.  Four visitors stop by and say Hi, one set was a father and son.

The son was excited to see the tower open and ran up the stairs (kind of reminds me of me when  I saw the tower open for the first time).  So I gave him a Smoky Bear comic book and gave him a Order of The Squirel membership card.

Looking for fires is one part of the job, but the other is called "pre-suppression" which is a fancy name for telling kids and the public about fire danger.  It works because just like those safety posters, it sticks in ya head.

Last of the visitors start hiking off the hill.  Bye!  Last human contact for the night.

Uh oh, time for more visitors.  We have two bird feeders, a hummingbird feeder, and a bird bath at the tower.  I had just put seeds in it when this guy woooshed in.  I go outside to take a close up.

Question 1: What kind of bird is this?

Answers at bottom of page.

Looking West - This is just awesome.  I got a good camera but the detail the eye can see is incredible, so you will have to use your imagination what it looks like to the left and right of this picture.  This is some haze that has been hugging the Los Angeles area, but the weather is about to change tonight that will blow this all away!

Looking West - This is bad, real bad.  The "Bark Beetle" is starting to make it's stand here at Charlton Flats and it is killing the trees.  I hope this picture is the worst case, but however I think it will be a historical record of "how it was".

Looking North West - Another strand near Highway 2 by Chilao.  This is a natural part of the area, the trees are weak due to draught in the area for the last 4 years, so the trees don't have enough sap to flood out the beetle from the bark.  These trees are dead where they stand and can only be cut down.

We learned about this during our training classes.  The Arrowhead area of the San Bernardino National Forest is the worst in the nation for this type of beetle.

Looking West - There she is, Mount San Antonio (Mt. Baldy).  I grew up looking at this mountain as my street in my home town points right at it.  Highest point in the San Gabriels at 10,064 feet.

Question 2 - How high is Mt. Baldy in meters?

Looking West - Ok now this is cool, the shadow of Mt. Vetter Lookout (and me) is being projected not only to the nearby ridge but all the way to Azusa Canyon tens of miles away!  I get excited about such little things.

Oh yeah... I'm also looking for smoke.  It's almost funny how there is so much to do and see that I can loose track of why I'm here.

As part of my being here, I put myself through a practice Smoke Drill and time myself.  Two minutes.  Not good, but I got some ideas how to practice at being faster.

Looking South-ish - Oh man this just almost brings me to tears.  The light of the setting sun has darkened everything but the golden glow of "magic hour" is making the yucca plants just shine.  Again, another "got to see it with your eyes" but this picture came out pretty good.

Notice the big Yucca is the same one from my In Tower training picture.  Only the top part of the flowers are there now.  I will keep track of this Yucca as it blooms over the next few months.

Ok back to work.  Back down at the weather box I take the temperature readings for the high and low and record them in the book. High 78 Low 48.

We only have a temp gauge in here, but maybe we will get some donations to help us build this up to a full weather station... hmmm... how do I set up pay pal for this?

Do I look happy?

This is the realization of a childhood dream.  It is so quiet up here you have to hold your breath just to hear anything else.  Nothing above me but the Galaxy itself.  Below me, about 8 million people to the South.

Looking West - Almost like a painting.  The light blue ridge in the right saddle is Slide Peak.  I did the survey during my training day and I can't wait until the Slide Peak Tower is open.  I purchased a 1.2 Million candle power dry cell light to signal the tower when open.

This is the last picture for June 24, 2003.

The night was quiet and I called out of service at 2205 hrs.  It was so quiet that I think, after I held my breath, I could hear my heart beat.  Really!  It was kind of creepy.

Ooops I forgot, at 2040, I saw the Disneyland Fireworks Show.  It lasted for 5 minutes and was able to see it through the Osborne.  So I decided to use that as another Smoke Drill.

June 25, 2003

I woke up to the sun blazing right into my eyes as it arose over Mt. Waterman at 0604.  I stood up wearing nothing but my underwear.  Kind of strange feeling when you go to bed in the privacy of darkness now to be fully exposed in a 360 degree glass room in full daylight.  Oh well modesty aside, I get dressed, make a smoke scan and call in service at 0615.

Time to raise the flag.  You know, even by myself it is still a ceremony of pride.  I'm not hamming it up, I did the color guard thing and even sang the Star Spangled Banner. Maybe as a way to keep my sanity or not, it just is a part of me.

Notice... the wind is coming from the North East. Bad news, that means Santa Anna Wind conditions.

First visitor of the day.

Question 3 - What is this little guy?

Looking due North that is Mt. Pacifica in the background.

"Roger birdie you are cleared runway zero niner right."

Wow the JAY WARS are really going on, and this red breasted fellow was skittish when I had my camera.  

"Yeah I'm watching you eat, I'm a lookout O.K.?"

"Roger Hummingbird you are cleared for extreme vertical take off heading 290 degrees, caution wake turbulence from nearby dog fighting Jays."

I love this camera.  You should see the full resolution 5 megapixal version of this pic.  Wow.  Sony DSC-F717.

Well I was hoping my 0900 relief would show but no luck so I have to close the tower myself and rush down the hill to my job.  My boss Eric is really cool to allow me to have the time off to come in later.  He loves the mountains and knows what it means for me.

No time for pictures now, I have a lot to do to close up and secure the tower.  I call out of service at 0925.

Got to get down the Mountain.

I'm driving down the hill through the Charlton Flats picnic area and what do I see way off in the distance?

SMOKE!  Depending on your monitor you might not be able to see it in this pic.  It is just a little off center left, and it is not in the Angeles Forest.  Maybe 40 miles or more away, so no need to call it in.  Later I found out this fire was in the Sycamore Canyon area in Riverside County.

Well this one doesn't count so I still have a perfect record. hehehe

Last stop before I get to work... ugh... now that is smog. Haze is grey and we get it all the time in Los Angeles but when it is brown like this, it is smog.   Air quality has been getting better, but not today.

Got to work, changed clothes and was chided by all my co-workers how jealous they are and at the same time how proud they are of me for doing this Volunteer work.

Heck I'd do it even if they paid me!