"A night and a day"
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"A night and a day"
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A night and a day at South Mount Hawkins (Photograph: Deb, Maria, Bob, Rita (USFS Patrol 21) & USFS Patrol 25
My wife Maria and I arrived at the gate 8/3/02 to SMH at 7:00 p.m. After opening the gate we started the ascent to the lookout, in our trusty wagon, up the four-mile grade, beginning of an exciting twenty-four hour stint.
It was a beautiful drive starting through a stand of oak and then opening into majesty of incense cedar and fern. Shortly up the road we started our crawl through the rocky slide area at the same time enjoying part of the spectacular view that would be with us from then on. We were overlooking some of the most rugged terrain in the San Gabriels of terrain of imposing granite boulders, deep canyons, trees and a view to the ocean.
Ah, there it was. The beautiful, proud SMH Fire Lookout, stood as a sentinel three stories high. Its shutters were open inviting us to climb the stairs to the cab and to go in. We recorded the weather, cooked up a fine dinner, made up our beds and settled in for a wonderful, quiet, peaceful night. A golden sunset in the west invited us to watch as the city lights in Azusa and the communities south started to sparkle.
The city lights were mesmerizing and even though they represented the city we were escaping, they also represented the city that we somewhat protected, at least their backyard. We had earlier seen a poorwill on the road, it had started its all night call, "poor will, poor will."
Through the darkness it was still easy to make out the San Gabriel Reservoir and the Morris Reservoir. A few campfires flickered near Crystal Lake. These we monitored off and on throughout the night. The glow of Wrightwood's lights was evident over Blue Ridge to the northeast. That and the silhouettes of the trees and Mt. Baldy to the east and Mt. Wilson to the west made the nighttime in the tower very very nice and beautiful.
At 8:30 on Saturday morning a hiker was making good time coming up the SMH trail. "Maria, there's a hiker coming," said I. "It's Deb!" "Deb, you o.k?"
"Yeah!" Deb said.
I asked her, "Where's your truck?"
She answered, "At the trail head."
That is when we learned that Deb Kure always hiked to SMH. Whoa, what a gal. That is a four mile up hill hike.
We shared some eats together and the usual tales and bragging that lookouts are good at. Some time later, Deb was in the outhouse, Maria on the west catwalk and I in the cab on the east. I was startled when I saw my reflection in one of the windows. Wrong… not a reflection! It was the largest smoke I had ever seen. The brown smoke was bellowing up over Pine Mt. to the east.
I called, "Smoke!" Maria was in the cab in a flash grabbing a smoke report. Deb flew up from the outhouse. We did all the right things.
"Angeles, South Mount Hawkins, smoke report." I gave them our report and Angeles came back with a very courteous, "SMH be advised that there is a wildland fire in Cajon Canyon being administered by San Bernardino."
I answered "SMH copy."
We agreed to stay alert that we had a "feeling" that it was going to be an active day. An hour and a half later there it was... a small plume coming up from the plantation across Highway 39 from Coldbrook Campground.
We were on it like a blanket. Maria filling out the report as I sounded off the figures. Deb was pinning it down to the mile marker on highway 39 that Bob Gregg had compiled. "Angeles, SMH smoke report."
"SMH go ahead" they answered and again they took our data, confirmed the azimuth reading and we stood by.
Dispatch assigned almost every rig in the eastern Angeles. Caterpillars, engines, patrols, water tenders and crews. Some responded that the road at Morris Dam was closed due to an accident. Dispatch directed them into the area through the "closed" highway 39 at Islip Saddle.
In the meantime patrols 21 and 25 were "above" the accident and responded post haste. They knocked the now flaming fire down with great efficiency. Thank you Rita and Nathan. A job well done! A good feeling!
(For more about this adventure, read "Smoke" by Deb Kure here)
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