Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Yes, I'll get to that!
We had an amazing time at the tower this weekend. The skies were clear and we could see forever! It stayed that way pretty much all weekend, with just a few clouds and bouts of mild haze. For some reason, the predicted highs of 90 did not make it up to the top of the mountain!
It was actually pretty cool in the mornings, maybe even the 40's Saturday AM.
We had a somewhat light, but steady stream of visitors all weekend. Saturday we were surprised and delighted to see Fran and Steve show up! They brought us a six pack of Flower Power! Yummy!!! Thanks again guys!
The sunsets, sunrises, and the stars were just spectacular this weekend. We could see the Milky Way, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and 'zillions and zillions of stars'!
We got to meet lots of friendly people, and chatted with them at great length in a few cases. Nice to see so many people interested in Fire Towers, History, peakbagging, etc.
We also received a visit from the Hankook Mountain Club, consisting of 23 people. I am usually a little nervous when a large group shows up, but these folks were very polite, followed all the rules, and made a large contribution to the tip jar! One woman made an especially insightful comment to me in the tower. "I can see that it is very tranquil up here, but still you have great responsibilities". Well said. Thanks for being good hikers!
Speaking of responsibilities, we painted the Picnic Table, cleaned out some cabinets, packed out some trash (most of it ours), put up some new signs to enhance the visitor's experience, and re-arranged some of the posters, and other items to be a little more organized. Some of the trash we had to pack out came from the lean-to. While possibly well intentioned, leaving empty cans, soap, bottles, rags, etc at the lean-to is ultimately not a good idea. Animals will try to eat or rip up these items, leaving just a big mess for others to clean up. Also, leaving used condoms behind is really not a good idea either! PACK IT IN, PACK IT OUT!
However, the worst part of the weekend was when we first got there. We always make a quick inspection of the grounds and buildings. We found not one, or two, but 3 small fires had been set! Two were in the duff, near the trails and cabin, and the 3rd was IN THE OUTHOUSE! There were piles of newspaper, and lots of spent and unused matches all over these 3 places. We also saw evidence of attempted vandalism. We couldn't believe it! My charitable side thinks that some poor, wet, cold, miserable soul was caught in a horrible thunderstorm at night and was desperate to find shelter. My cynical side is sure it was not this bad, and let's face it, it's only about an hour's walk to a trailhead. In any case, no real damage was done and we cleaned it all up.
We did not let this ruin an otherwise wonderful weekend! Our attempts to 'FLASH' Eric 'The Swede', who was at Hunter, were not successful. Maybe next time, we'll try headlamps at night?
Let's continue the Happy Thoughts with some pics:
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f1.jpg - Mushroom
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f2.jpg - Myrtle Warbler
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f3.jpg - Cool trees at sunset
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f4.jpg - Sunset
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f5.jpg - The new GREEN table!
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f6.jpg - Morning Under-cast
We had an amazing time at the tower this weekend. The skies were clear and we could see forever! It stayed that way pretty much all weekend, with just a few clouds and bouts of mild haze. For some reason, the predicted highs of 90 did not make it up to the top of the mountain!
It was actually pretty cool in the mornings, maybe even the 40's Saturday AM. We had a somewhat light, but steady stream of visitors all weekend. Saturday we were surprised and delighted to see Fran and Steve show up! They brought us a six pack of Flower Power! Yummy!!! Thanks again guys!
The sunsets, sunrises, and the stars were just spectacular this weekend. We could see the Milky Way, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and 'zillions and zillions of stars'!
We got to meet lots of friendly people, and chatted with them at great length in a few cases. Nice to see so many people interested in Fire Towers, History, peakbagging, etc.
We also received a visit from the Hankook Mountain Club, consisting of 23 people. I am usually a little nervous when a large group shows up, but these folks were very polite, followed all the rules, and made a large contribution to the tip jar! One woman made an especially insightful comment to me in the tower. "I can see that it is very tranquil up here, but still you have great responsibilities". Well said. Thanks for being good hikers!
Speaking of responsibilities, we painted the Picnic Table, cleaned out some cabinets, packed out some trash (most of it ours), put up some new signs to enhance the visitor's experience, and re-arranged some of the posters, and other items to be a little more organized. Some of the trash we had to pack out came from the lean-to. While possibly well intentioned, leaving empty cans, soap, bottles, rags, etc at the lean-to is ultimately not a good idea. Animals will try to eat or rip up these items, leaving just a big mess for others to clean up. Also, leaving used condoms behind is really not a good idea either!
PACK IT IN, PACK IT OUT!However, the worst part of the weekend was when we first got there. We always make a quick inspection of the grounds and buildings. We found not one, or two, but 3 small fires had been set! Two were in the duff, near the trails and cabin, and the 3rd was IN THE OUTHOUSE!
There were piles of newspaper, and lots of spent and unused matches all over these 3 places. We also saw evidence of attempted vandalism. We couldn't believe it! My charitable side thinks that some poor, wet, cold, miserable soul was caught in a horrible thunderstorm at night and was desperate to find shelter. My cynical side is sure it was not this bad, and let's face it, it's only about an hour's walk to a trailhead. In any case, no real damage was done and we cleaned it all up.We did not let this ruin an otherwise wonderful weekend! Our attempts to 'FLASH' Eric 'The Swede', who was at Hunter, were not successful. Maybe next time, we'll try headlamps at night?
Let's continue the Happy Thoughts with some pics:
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f1.jpg - Mushroom
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f2.jpg - Myrtle Warbler
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f3.jpg - Cool trees at sunset
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f4.jpg - Sunset
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f5.jpg - The new GREEN table!
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/f6.jpg - Morning Under-cast
