Charley's Lookout Log - August 2-3, 2003

August 2, 2003

Picture: 0832 hrs

Two days. Saturday and Sunday all day.  This should be an interesting couple of days for me at the tower.  I have news that there will be a Sierra Club hike and I posted to another group called Outdoorsclub.Org an invitation for their members to visit me on Sunday.

I'll be alone through Saturday but on Sunday Fire Lookout Maggie will help me staff the tower.

Here is the first glimpse of the tower from Highway 2.

About a half hour later I make the call into Angeles Forest Dispatch, "Vetter Mountain, in service".

Angeles, "Vetter Mountain, in service time 0858 hrs".

After the tower is open, I raise the flags while a visitor takes the picture from below.

The visitor started humming the National Anthem as I raised our National Emblem and I could not help but to be proud of the moment to raise the flag..

I tell you, there is something about this ceremony that just makes me proud when I to do it, and I really do think about all those that help keep this country free.

Yes I got a haircut...

There is so much to do after opening the tower, but now I'm really starting go get the feel for it and doing duties that are becoming automatic. I take the morning weather report and fill out the day log.

I am really low on water this weekend, but I should have just enough for the bird baths and drinking water.  I usually bring up water but this time I only brought drinking water.

Note to self: Buy one of those blue 5 gallon water jugs and keep in the truck.

When I first arrived, there was not a cloud in the sky but in just less then an hour the clouds are starting to build.  Over the past couple days, there were thunderstorms.  

Here is the forecast:  "A pacific trough will bring a dry southwest flow aloft today that will cause much lower humidities in the mountains and deserts with temperatures near to a little below normal.  Ahead of this trough... scattered convection will continue to be found. Some of this convection will be high based and pose some threat for dry lighting. "

That can't be good.

Here is the upper Yucca tree.  The base has died and the only green left is in the upper stalks.  The fruits are ripe and falling from the lower half.  It will be interesting to see what it looks like in September.

There you are you little Titmouse!  This Oak Titmouse "Baeolophus inornatus" has been hiding from my camera ever since I have started. But this trip I catch him a couple of times.  

Here is a sound file of the Eastern Tufted Titmouse and it sounds just like his California Cousin.  Here is the sound file in wav format 146kb.

Here is an external website that has his range and USGS data is located here. Be sure to use your "back" buttons to return here.

On the other side of the tower, the hummingbirds are very active today.  At one time I count six of them sitting on the two feeders.  I think these are Anna's Hummingbird "Archilochus anna".  

Nectar is their main source of energy, but they also obtain protein from small insects like flies, ants, small beetles, tiny wasps, and other small insects. Because the hovering flight used by these birds to gather nectar requires phenomenal amounts of energy, the Anna's hummingbird has to consume over twice its weight of nectar each day.

Source: Operation Ruby Throat Website (External link)

I hope someday to capture the sound of them flying by.  It sounds like a low rumble buz.

The clouds are increasing and the temp is about 75 degrees, so it does not seem like we will get the big storms today.

Wow the Bark Beetle is spreading quickly.  Compare this photo to last month and there are already more trees going.  I am going to keep taking pictures of this throughout the summer.

There is nothing that can be done.  Only the rains will stop this.

We finally hear the voices of people walking up the mountain.  It is very interesting how sound carries in this quiet place.

My first visitors are Bob and his son Micheal.  Micheal took a moose out of his backpack that he carried up the mountain.  So of course I had to take out our Smoky the Bear.  Here we are for our group picture, all four of us.

This would not be the last we see of Micheal, because he will return tomorrow.

Yet another special treat for me.  My girlfriend Karen, and my best friend Tom hike up from the parking area to visit.

Tom brings his family and his friend Isabel and her son.  

From left to right back row to front:  Brian, Isabel, Tom, Trace, Shelby and Jonathan.

Tom and the gang take off but Karen stays behind to stay for awhile.  With all the crowds gone it gets quiet again in the Tower.  Karen makes us both a sandwich.  We try not to eat when visitors come up and today that does not seem to be a problem.

 See the Scrub Jay at the rail feeder?

My sandwich...

OH NO!  SMOKE...  Wait, can't tell... maybe not.  I get the binoculars and watch this for a moment.  It is a low cloud near the gap on Highway 2 in the background.  What made me think this was smoke was the tinge of black on the leading edge.

Phew... almost broke my perfect record of no smoke.  Glad I didn't call it in. hehehe

The sun is setting low, and the last group of 12 visitors from the Sierra Club just departed.  Time to start preparing for my night shift.

Somewhere out there near the setting Sun on Slide Peak, George and Pam are manning the Slide Peak tower about 48 miles away.  They are working to get that tower open by September of this year.  More about that later.

The night is rising.  Above blue sky, then the orange/red hue of sunset fades into the rising darkness of the Earth's shadow.  It is really quiet except for the sounds of the animals coming out of their day's hiding places.

It's late and Karen takes one last look before she hikes down to her car.  Because it is getting dark I warn her to watch for Mountain Lions since it is dusk when they are very active.  She leaves and will drive home to San Diego.  A long drive.

About 8 P.M. I call Angeles Dispatch and let them know I will remain in service until 2200 hrs.  They acknowledge.

August 3, 2003

Picture: 0834 hrs

I woke up about 0610 hrs and called in service about 0710 hrs.

Later I heard a car coming up the fire road and knew it must be the other Fire Lookout that was scheduled to come up for the day.  Maggie, parked her car down by the Air Quality Monitoring Station (I'll feature that in a later log) and hiked up to the tower.

The hummingbird feeders were almost out and Maggie knew right where the juice was stored.  She filled both feeders and I got a great shot of "the birds and bees" in this picture.

One of the little hummingbirds tried to feed while she was filling the feeder.  Here is another shot:

This is a picture of a swallowtail butterfly. There were two of them flying around the tower and one of them actually was involved in a dogfight with a hummingbird. I could not believe it while I watched it. The butterfly actually chased the hummingbird around the tower. I never knew they could maneuver so intelligently.

Source: Tiger Swallowtail Website (External)

We get a few visitors up, but generally things are slow.  Maggie takes care of the Tower for a bit while I take a walk down the East side of the Mountain.

It sure is nice to have two lookouts during the day on the weekends, but this weekend is really slow.

Do I look happy?

Well I am.  Maggie is holding the fort just fine above while I "go on patrol".  Another visitor takes this shot of me.

Back at the tower the emergency calls come in.  Another motorcyclist down and Air 5 launches from Barley Flats Air Station to pick up him up.

A scrub jay enjoys the lazy Sunday afternoon while sitting on the upper Yucca tree.  It's hotter today then yesterday and only a few little clouds in the sky.

The only cloud in the entire sky is over George and Pam at the Slide Peak Tower.   Now that was funny.

My first two timer comes back.  Bob and Micheal return again after breaking camp down below.  Yesterday, Micheal saw that the other kids were collecting "dangerous pieces" of glass and other things around the base of the tower.  He had found a few more pieces and wanted to make sure he turned them in to the Firelookout.

Maggie and I made him a member of the "Honorable and Ancient Order of the Squirrels" an old Fire Lookout membership for visitors from the 1930's.

SMALL WORLD ALERT...

About a month later, Karen and I saw Micheal and his Dad at Disneyland in line at the Haunted Mansion line.

Mountain bikers love Mount Vetter.  It is part of a large circuit of trails that start from the top of the mountain.  Here, two 'hard core' bikers make their way up to the Tower for a visit.

With all the visitors gone, Maggie prepares a lunch.  Accidentally I didn't pack enough food for myself so Maggie offered a generous portion for me.  We grabbed the radio and went down to the picnic table.

We didn't have long when the first group of hikers from Outdoorsclub.Org came up to visit.  I grabbed my sandwich and headed for the tower and left Maggie with the Radio.

I had three visitors in the tower when Maggie came racing up the stairs... "We have a fire, just reported on dispatch."  They gave the coordinates and we found it on the map.  Sure enough there it was.  The picture at left was contrast enhanced so you could see the smoke.  We could barely see it from the tower with our eyes.  

It turned out the fire was 16 miles away at 275 degrees bering from the Tower, located in the shooting ranges.

The visitors went quiet as we took our report but dispatch had matters well under hand so we used it to practice our skill.

(There goes my perfect record)

A second alarm went out for more units.  Air 5 was scrambled to help 3 firefighters that sustained minor injuries.  The fire started at the Angeles Shooting Range in Little Tujunga Canyon and burned about 60 acres.  Three air tankers made a few drops and it was quickly brought under control.

No structures were threatened.

It was reported that recreational shooting caused the fire, but they had not determined what type of firearm was responsible. An investigation into the cause of the fire was ongoing.

Later, another call went out and a first alarm team was scrambled that included 5 engines, 2 water tankers and a battalion, but it turned out to be a false alarm and the units were recalled.

Maggie shows a few visitors how the tower works.  This Mother and son pair was also from the Outdoorsclub.Org group but she came up on her own.

The last of the weekend's visitors leave down the hill.  There is no trace of the "Shooter Fire".

What a weekend!  Slow, and nice.  Maggie and I begin to close the tower and we called out of service.  We had 25 visitors on Saturday and only 19 on Sunday.

From the top of Highway 2 looking down at Downtown Los Angeles, I'm heading home.  Off in the distance is Palos Verdes, and the far ridge is Catalina Island.

It's funny, when I went to Yellowstone and told people that I work in the mountains above Los Angels, people would say, "What mountains?"

It will take me about an hour to get home and boy am I dead tired, but it's a good feeling.