Lookout Log - July 1-2, 2003

Picture: 1600 hrs

I just left my "day job" and stopped at the Ralphs located in the Foothills of La Canada/Flintridge, just below the mountains.  This is a favorite stop for Mt. crews to pick up last minute supplies as I am doing. 

On the way up to the tower, there are new signs directing Forest Visitors.  

Note the "end daylight headlight section".  The drive on Highway 2 to this point is very dangerous as there have been many accidents.  The California Highway Patrol is trying everything to get people to slow down and be safe.

On the way up to the tower, I always check the status of this sign at Clear Creek as it is the official fire risk level.  This is an off set scale, meaning that medium is normal level of fire danger.

Just past Red Box I pulled over to chat with this fellow doing some impressionist painting on the side of the road.

The Forest offers many forms of recreation for people.

First look at the tower from about 2 miles away (at full camera zoom).  The tower is open so I will go straight there and perform a shift change.

Past the locked gate (that you have seen before) and driving up the 1.1 mile dirt road, keeping an eye out for gung-ho downhill bicyclists.

Hi Jim!  Jim was in my training class and he was just starting to close down the tower when he sees me coming up the dirt road.

He has stricken the colors and so I'll keep them down.

Jim and I reopen the South shutters and begin our shift change hand off procedures.  Yep, the 2x4 is in place and all is going as planned.

Shift change out complete, Jim heads down the mountain.  Just before Jim left he told me that was his first Solo day in the tower.  I told him this is my second so hopefully we have all the procedures down.

Great pose of the little chipmunk.  There are about 6 of these guys running around the tower at various times during the day.  They are fast!

There is a squirrel but no pics yet of him.

Well it looks like I have some help watching the Forest.  This guy is sitting on a the "lower" Yucca plant that still has some flowers.

Question 1:  What kind of bird is this... careful, it may not be what you think!

Ok, enough enjoying nature, there is (more) work to do.

Part of the duties of being a fire lookout is to make sure logs, records, and weather reports are filled out.  Although this is not hard, it does take some time to do and you need "homework" type discipline to do it.

It does'nt take too long and I am back watching the Forest in no time.

This is our weather station and I take the Temperature here.  I also use the sling anometer.  I'll post my weather reports here on the network at a later time.

I hear the sound of an engine coming up the dirt road and see a POV* stop at the bottom of the hill. I can't tell who it is and I wonder if maybe the gate was unlocked when Jim left.  I'll have to follow them down and lock it to be sure.

Oh relief... I recognize one of my fellow Fire Lookouts Tony, and his family. 

* POV = Privately Owned Vehicle

What a nice visit.

Tony's wife Sherry, and daughter Katie was also my classmates.  Each partner that works in the tower must be qualified to work there, so training is necessary regardless of family standing.

Sherry starts her In-Tower checkout sometime next week and she will do her solo sometime later.

I take a walk around the tower for a brief inspection of the local area.  It is interesting to note, that as long as I have the radio with me, I am the lookout, not the tower.  So no matter where I am I could call a Smoke Alert on a location, or could race to the tower to get the bearing.

This is my "self portrait" in the shadows of the setting sun.

I try to get another shot of this little guy, but he is too quick for my camera.  He has a red head and front chest.

He is on the tower's feeder we have mounted on the South West rail.

Question 2: What kind of bird is this?

The dark of night is rising and just before the sun goes down I get one more visitor and her dog.  She lives in Pasadena and decided to make a quick hike.  

She told me she was going to take the "ridge trail" down, but I advised her to stay on the main road since it is getting dark.  She didn't have a light, nor water and I also advised her that we have Mt. Lions up here and to be careful.

She was quick to see the safety in that advice and took the dirt road down the hill.

Looking down upon a sea of lights.

The San Gabriel Valley and Orange County spread out below.  I can see the area where I grew up.

I go outside and take a shot of the setting moon.  The dark half of the moon is illuminated by Earth Glow.  I love this camera!

Picture: 0013

I called out of service about 2200 hrs and got a little sleep, but I woke up just after midnight and I thought I would take a few night shots.

The sky glow can be seen from Los Angeles, but you can actually see stars in this picture.  This was a 30 second exposure from the camera.

The stars are so increadible up here.  Working at night is very interesting.  Even though I am out of service, if I see something I can still call it in, so in a way, I'm never off the clock being a lookout.

Ahhh!  Who needs an alarm clock!

The Sun rises just south of Mt. Waterman.  I call in service but no one answers.  I'll call later and let them know what time I went in service.

I do my morning scans and complete the weather report.  I take the flags out and raise the colors for the day.

After I take the flag picture above, I'm yelled at by a Scrub Jay.  I go to take his picture and he jumps off the feeder.  This picture catches him with his wings tucked in mid flight.

Here is a close up:

Here is a shot of the "upper" Yucca.  Over the past few weeks you can see how this plant has been changing. Now there are no flowers on the stem at all, only the fruit.

Behind the Yucca to the right is Mt. Monrovia.

There is a slight haze over the mountains.  There are many natural conditions that can look like Smoke and we are trained to tell the difference.  

This is just haze.

Well, the bird wars get some real competition.  I'm not sure, but I think this is one of our Forest Service fire control airplanes.  As he was crossing the mountains I saw him turn and fly right over the Tower.

I'm going to ask my fire lookout buddies on the bulletin boards to see if they know.

Ok I won't quiz you on this one.  I couldn't get a better shot but this is a Northern Oriole.  I was surprised to see him but I guess he is one of the migratory birds that pass through here.

Here is a shot I found on the Internet:

The Jay wars continue!  These guys are very territorial but that is a good thing.  They often sqauwk when they see a snake so I tend to listen to them.

Notice the image of the Osborne Fire Finder in the reflection of the window.

I love this.  As I was sitting behind the glass, he came right up to me and stared me eye to eye.

An old Indian elder once told me, "Live your life like the hummingbird.  Be quick on your feet, fast on your horse, and live your life lightly."

How can I ever forget.

I hear another car come up the road and know that the Day shift is about to send me home.  Arnie has been in the program and his wife Holly was also one of my classmates.

Holly is going to do her tower check out with Arnie, but they will have to work through how to open the tower training routine a bit differently thanks to me.

I guess we could have closed down the whole tower and start from scratch, but Arnie says he will make do.

We complete the shift change and report to dispatch that the change is complete and the tower is still in service.

As it turns out, one of our batteries in the radio is dead and won't take a charge from the charger.  Arnie says he'll make a report and let George know about it.

Oh yes... back to the "other" real world.  I report to my job at 10:10 hrs and work through the day with yet another happy grin on my face.

Question 2:  From the book in the tower, it says this guy is a Purple Finch.  The book says that these birds are more red then purple.