Pyrocumulus Over Vandenberg AFB

I just now discovered this videographer on Youtube while searching for some cool Canyon Fire video footage there. This guy is not a professional but he has potential and this stuff is good enough to scratch my itch for some fire weather phenomenon such as these pyrocumulus clouds yesterday. Note: as of tonight, the fire has consumed an estimated 12,000 acres. There is no decent website to which to link to as Vandenberg Air Force Base has done a wretched job of keeping the public informed up to this point in the fire emergency which threatens to leave the base. 

Alt-Right Chain-of-Command Chart

If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand. For those who do, ENJOY!

Quote of the Day - Thomas Jefferson

Given Thomas Jefferson's questionable relationship with God, I was surprised to discover this quote only just in the past dozen minutes or so. This thought rings ominous and true in 2016 given how long ago it was conceived and uttered by this man and how our cup gets fuller every day.

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever"

~ Thomas Jefferson

Scripture of the Day - David (Ps. 118:17-18)

Yesterday, while hiking in the heat in the middle of the day on the southern flank of Machesna Mountain in the Los Padres National Forest (as discussed HERE), for a time I worried that I might actually cause my own death due to hyperthermia/heat stroke and/or heart failure. That was because I am out of shape and overweight and am working to get back to my fighting trim. At memorable point in the ascent before turning around due to my buddy Mike's dog's difficulties due to the heat and exertion, I heard a passage ring through my head loud and clear and it not only comforted me, but I knew it was coming direct from God. I then proceeded to forget about as it got buried in all my life's distractions.

This morning, for the first time in longer than I can remember, I attended my church's men's Psalms reading at 5:30 a.m. which gathering it holds nearly every Tuesday morning throughout the year aside from major holiday weeks. Not coincidentally, we read that passage at which point I smiled inwardly and later shared the relevance of the passage the day previous with my brothers this morning.

"I will not die, but live, and declare the Lord's works. The Lord has sorely disciplined me, but he has not stricken me physical death."

~ Psalm 118:17-18 (Kimicus ad Absurdum translation)

Six Best Canyon Fire Pics

Each major wildfire this year it seems a different fire photog has had the magic touch. With the 6,000-acre (or 7-9,000-acre by some counts) Canyon Fire raging on the south post of Vandenberg Air Force Base, the blessed fire photog has been Santa Barbara County Fire Department's own Public Information Officer (PIO), Mike Eliason. Hard hats off to him for some amazing images (and short videos) shared on his official Twitter account

This was the scene yesterday less than a day into the fire which forced postponement of a then-impending launch at Space Launch Complex-3 of an Atlas V rocket carrying the WorldView 4 satellite

The south base burning last night (Sunday evening).

This was unusually extreme fire behavior for the morning as these trees were incinerated earlier today.

The disk of the sun was obscured under one of the smoky convection columns of the fire this afternoon.

Pyrocumulus clouds formed over the main convection columns this afternoon as moisture from Hurricane Paine passed over the area.

This was the scene today as the fire raged in the hills above Space Launch Complex-3 which houses an Atlas V rocket & WorldView 4 satellite whose launch continues to be postponed indefinitely. All images by Mike Eliason for Santa Barbara County Fire Department (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Ominous Smoke Face

Maybe getting a bit heat-stroked and sun-scorched today while out hiking fried my brain's wiring a bit, but I saw yet another anthropomorphic face, this time in a cloud formation looming over Atascadero State Hospital as viewed from the top of Pinal Avenue in Atascadero, CA. I caught a glimpse of this as I drove away from my mom's house and decided to drive up to where I knew I would get a view and what I saw exceeded my expectations. I see a furrowed, scowling brow with deeply-inset eyes in this multi-tiered smoke bank drifting in from the 6,000-acre Canyon Fire burning to the south on the post of Vandenberg Air Force Base. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

American Canyon Trail Hike

Today my buddy Mike and I drove out to American Canyon Campground on the Santa Lucia District of the Los Padres National Forest. We visited this location 5 miles beyond a gate on Avenales Ranch Road that is usually locked for 47 weeks out of the year except for the last five weeks of deer-hunting season. I recently read an article in a local newspaper about this and noted it to my buddy that we probably need to do this while we can so we did. Given it was summer-like hot today and we got a late start I elected to leave my dog with my mom while I hiked. Mike took his dog which ended up not working out as the black pooch had great difficulty. Mike and I despite not being in peak shape did okay, making it about halfway to the top of Machesna Mountain in the Machesna Mountain Wilderness before turning back for the sake of the dog.

Trailhead marker. We started from here at 1:16 p.m.

The view looking back down the path and to the southwest with Garcia Mountain at left.

We received a little relief with some cloud-filtering of solar radiation as moisture from Hurricane Paine moved into the area. This is the view looking east-southeast in the direction of the origin of the moisture.

We did not make it up onto Machesna Mountain but did make it about halfway up. This entire area burned in the 106,668-acre Highway 58 Fire in August 1996.

Am I the only person to see a face in this riverine sedimentary rock formation?

During our hike we noted the smoke from the Canyon Fire burning in on Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County thickening up and moving more in our direction. By the time we got into Pozo (pictured above) en route home, the smoke both low-hanging and high-altitude was thickening up. All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).