Slide Mountain October 4, 2009

Joe and I worked the tower on Saturday 10/3/09. We arrived at 8:30am. On the way up the trail, we noticed lots of scat. Enormous piles of it! Also noticed was the awesome amount of trail work someone has done from Kermit's Corner to just before the Saddle. We had a mostly uneventful day. There was an overturned travel trailer on Interstate 5 Northbound. The freeway was down to one lane for most of the event with the North bound lanes being completely shut down while the ambulance came, while they uprighted the trailer and then again when they put the trailer on the tow truck. No fire or smoke due to the accident. There was also the excitement of watching a couple of hummingbirds do the tango and a few bees chasing the hummingbirds from the feeder.

We called out of service and started the hike down the mountain. We talked a bit on the way down then got quiet and just about 1/4 mile from the Saddle as we turned a bend in the trail, Joe saw a bear coming towards us. We stopped and as soon as the bear saw Joe, he darted away. We kept going but we talked and sang the rest of the way to Kermit's Corner. Exciting, at least to us.

Note: On the way up in the morning, I notice a filterless cigarette butt on the trail. Surely this didnt come from a lookout on their way up or down, right? The butt was in the middle of the trail and showed no signs of being crushed out before the smoker moved up or down the trail. Very sad and we probably dodged a fire-laden bullet with that one.