My Mountain Trail

You can see for miles

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Looking NW from the Mt. Tamalpais lookout.

This afternoon I am working my first shift as a lookout on Mt. Tamalpais.  So far I have reported the weather conditions twice, eaten lunch, looked for reported fires (all have been false alarms so far), listened to folks describe what they see and where it is, and well, looked out.  It’s peaceful from the perspective that one is all alone in the little lookout box.  It’s also a bit busy at times too because of all the action on the radio and all the noise from the hikers congregating at the base of the building.  Not busy for me of course, just busy sounding. 

Listening to folks describe what the see is one of the more interesting things to do in the lookout.  I heard one guy taking another stranger through all the major sights, and a number sights not visible due to the coastal fog covering Southern Marin and San Francisco.  What made it interesting?  Well, he used a lot of names of things that are visible from here (and some that are not visible or don’t exist), and pointed in the wrong direction almost every time.  He sure sounded like he knew what he was doing, but “clueless” doesn’t even begin to describe his story.  The person he was talking with obviously knew even less (or was VERY polite), so it didn’t seem to matter.  I figured if the person asking didn’t know what they were hearing was wrong, it wouldn’t matter one way or the other anyway – they weren’t likely to remember anything when the got home.  And, whatever they did remember, they would probably just figure they got it confused somehow.  

Of course, it is important, as a lookout, to actually know what you are looking at.  I have a lot to learn.  As calls come in over the radio I try to place the events on the landscape.  If forces me to think about what I see now vs. what I have seen from the ground level.  It’s a different, and not always easy, shift in thinking.  I have also been studying the maps, learning ridge and hill names, identifying fire roads and trails, and generally learning more about Marin.  All, in all, plenty of things to do to get good at this relatively simple job.

In the photo above you can see Lake Lagunitas, Bon Tempe Lake, and Alpine Lake – all part of Marin’s water supply.  You can also see Pine Mountain and Pine Mountain fire road; the Barnabe lookout is on Mt. Barnabe behind Pine Mountain.  You can see the Meadow Club (golf course), White’s Hill, Black Hill, the fog stacking up behind Bolinas Ridge, and Inverness Ridge off in the distance just in front of the fog bank.  Oh, and no smoke.