Look Out

When I was a younger man, my college roommate and I would share dreams of being fire lookouts, of all things.
He was from California, so I suppose he knew more about it than I did.
I would guess the base of our combined knowledge was more from the writings of Edward Abbey, than any real facts...

Solitary, almost monastic, living.
Staring into the world, watching it change.
Breathing the purer air some altitude affords.

That was what I imagined being a lookout would provide, along with a small cot and stipend.


Still, even with all the romance of youth stripped away, it doesn't look like a bad gig.

I suppose being the Mt. Tam lookout is the equivalent of the fire watcher big leagues.