June 21st & 22nd on the Mountain

We finished our very first shifts at Vetter Mountain yesterday! I sure hope I did everything right! It was super hot on Saturday when we arrived. We saw the baby rattlesnake curled up on a rock at the bottom of the stairs by the trash can. Later in the day, after we went out of service, we were going down the stairs to get our dinner and I told Joe "watch out for the snakey-poo", he said "You aint kidding!" and just then, Mama or Daddy Rattlesnake crossed the stairs just in front of us. It was huge, maybe 5 feet long and a big head. We stopped and took pictures from our very safe distance! He /She went in a hole near a rock just off the fourth stair coming up. I have never been that close to a rattlesnake and was happy for the experience.

We saw the most amazing sunset on Saturday night. We has a few mountain bikers come up about 7:30pm just before sunset but they left in time for us to enjoy it on our own. The views from up there at night are almost as awesome as they are during the day. We had a huge orange moon and the city lights were pretty cool too.

Sunday was not as hot as Saturday. We saw the wood workers/tree timmers drive up a couple of times just to turn around. They also started working at 5:30am and we could hear them well. Why do they do those coyote calls? I dont understand. Is it some form of communication? Anyway, they start early and end early.

We met a guy named Chris who said he used to help Pam & George out quite a bit with the Vetter as he used to be stationed at Chilao as "Patrol 16" before he was transferred to Big Bear. He was a really nice guy and he gave us his phone number/email and told us to look him up next time we are in Big Bear. He came up with a group of 8 of his friends.

Sunday afternoon was pretty quiet. just before we left we heard a report of fire near Rohwer Flats of about 3-5 acres, I think they were calling it the Mint Incident. That area was way off our map and I tried to spot where i thought it would be but couldnt see a thing out that far. I made notes of all the interesting things i heard on the radio, etc.

Wierd thing is coming down the mountain, my heart felt heavy. I mean it usually does when I have to go home after I spend time in the mountains but this time was worse. It was a transition from one way of living to another. I could imagine living the simple peaceful life of a lookout. Now, I am back in the concrete jungle dealing with things that just wouldnt matter if I were in my tower. Sigh. Anyone else feel the same way?

PS. Okay, so Joe tells me I am exaggerating on the length of the adult Rattlesnake. He says it only looked like it was 3 or maybe 3 1/2 feet long. (Sure looked alot bigger to me!)