"Stories from the Lookout" was inspired by the people we met while we volunteered in the tower this weekend.
Along with a huge number of visitors to the tower, this weekend was different than others because we saw white smoke billowing above the trees each day. Fortunately, the smoke flareups were in the burned area from the Mountain fire. They subsided each day without spreading outside that area.
Usually, the peak is a place of solitude but on Saturday, we had 120 visitors/hikers to the tower.
Two people I met had great fears of heights so reaching the summit was a huge accomplishment for them.
Another man knew the geography of the surrounding mountains and all the hiking trails because he led Boy Scouts on backpacking trips in this wilderness every summer.
One visitor ran over 4 miles on the moderate/strenuous trail while another hiked up barefoot.
What struck me most was unexpected acts of kindness. It started with two of our new friends bringing us 6 liters of water and apples from their apple trees. When you backpack, water is gold. It is essential to carry but quite heavy. We were most appreciative of their generosity!
Later in the day, we met 5 members of the California Conservation Corp who were living and working on trail maintenance for months on the mt. We gave them one of our bottles of water. Then they offered us some coffee which we gladly accepted since our "instant coffee" didn't taste like coffee.
Another act of kindness came from a couple who offered to pack our trash out for us. They regularly pick up trash they find on the trails and they wanted to lighten the load for us when we departed. Wow!
On our last day, we met a very enthusiastic hiker who volunteered to carry items we might need to do maintenance on the tower and he offered to bring extra bottles of water for us when he comes up again.
When your backpack is heavy and you have a strenuous hike, all of these offers that may sound small are actually huge acts of kindness! These people were inspiring to us.
