Oct 03 2009
A tale of two people
A tale of two people can be the start of a wonderful story with startling antidotes, and memorable moments which usually go unnoticed by everyone but the person themselves.
Such a tale transpired Saturday at Morton Peak.Bob lives less than 5 miles from the Lookout and unknown even to him his trip up the mountain to the tower started just over two years ago. It didn’t start on his dirt bike that he arrived on today, but it started back on August 29, 2006, by standing on the top of his house roof. He stood there with his brother in law, choking on the smoked filled air that like the advancing fire surrounded him and his house. His home was near ground zero for the Emerald Fire.
It was about that time, he was almost knocked off that roof by a wall of water that was dropped by a helicopter. He never felt or saw anything as nice as seeing the water knock down the advancing flames. That water drop and the ones that followed saved his life and his home. But it was last Saturday afternoon, September 6th that the fire came back. He watched it from his house reliving the memories as if the Emerald Fire happened just the other day. His eyes happen to look up toMorton
Peak and the Lookout standing there keeping watch-a silent guardian keeping his family from harm. So, on this Saturday, Bob had to go to Angelus Oaks and as he got on his bike he looked up atMorton Peak and noticed that the flag was flying and decided to take the fire roads to Angelus Oaks-with one very important detour.So Bob rode up to the Tower got off his bike and took off his helmet and backpack. He turned and looked up at the tower and was greeted by the Fire Lookout that was on duty.
Introductions were made, questions were asked and answered and Bob related his story which you just read above. He said he had to come up and tell us Thank You for staffing the towers and for keeping watch. So on behalf of Bob-Thank you- your efforts are very deeply appreciated.
There were over a dozen visitors at the tower this Saturday; however the other person of this tale was also one of the renters. Young, tall, slender with long reddish blond hair and green eyes that were either hidden behind sun glasses or behind the camera lens. Linda had a very noticeable European accent which required me to listen carefully in order to understand her as our discussions ranged from the weather, that the tower stairs reminded her of the Eiffel tower, to conditions of the road up to the tower and finally to photography.
I soon learned that Linda lived on a Navaho Indian Reservation in Arizona, that had worst roads than ours, wrote movie reviews for a European magazine and was a semi-professional photographer whose work was often showcased at galleries in Los Angeles and other major cities in the United States and Europe. As we talked, her hands were busy getting her cameras and various wide angle and telephoto lenses prepared for her stay at the tower. So in the near future, if you’re ever walking by a photo gallery-in LA or some city in Europe, don’t be surprise if Morton Peak is looking back at you.
