Nelson's Summer on the Hill

This is the story of Nelson's summer as a fire lookout up on Ella Mountain. Nelson is named for American naturalist Edward William Nelson and is a desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni), the state mammal of Nevada.

Before Nelson made it up to Ella Mountain Lookout, she checked in with the Bureau of Land Management Station in Caliente, Nevada. It's here where the rest of the fire crew staged for fires.

She got to see the big fire engines that helped to put out fires all around the high desert steppe of southeastern Nevada.

She made it to the tower by using a map Clementine made for Mac after the ice - with the map there was no chance of either of them getting lost on the way.

When they got there, the tower was all shuttered up from winter after Mac left last summer, so there was a bit of work to get Ella mountain ready for another summer of watching for fires.

Once she got the tower all cleaned and cozied up, Nelson was ready for a summer on the mountaintop. Her friend Fattywhompus may have liked traveling far and wide, but Nelson liked to take things a little slower.

Nelson spent a lot of time studying maps and learning how to properly use binoculars and the Osborne Fire Finder to make sure she could do a good job spotting fires.

She also spent a lot of time exploring the mountaintop to see what was up there, like artwork from a past lookout and markers that the Geological Survey placed on the mountain.

She loved to wake up super early to go sit and watch the sun rise every day.

On walks, she would look for signs of old fires, like faded burn scars or cuts from chainsaws, years old.

She liked to see the tower from different points of view, and would sometimes hike to other peaks to see it.

Fresh food was Nelson's favourite, and she always made it a point to cook a good meal for herself.

When Nelson had visitors, she strived to also give them good food and to be a good host.
The engine crew loved when she made fruit tarts for them.

Sometimes, the air force would fly overhead, and Nelson was always excited when they came close to say hello.

Nelson wasn't the only critter to visit the tower, either. She sometimes had visits from Tarantula Hawks and Rock Squirrels.

Her absolute favourite were the hummingbirds, who came and visited each and every day.

Even though Nelson was a homebody, she did like to travel around a bit on her days off. Here she is on Angel's Landing at Zion National Park in Utah, where she's originally from and where some of her family lives.

And here she is at Great Basin National Park visiting the stump of Prometheus - once the oldest living tree in the world. Prometheus' story is one of caution, but we did learn quite a lot from this old giant even after he was cut down.

Back at the tower, there was still a job to be done. Nelson liked rainy days because they cooled off the desert and were a good spectacle to see pass by. Nelson sat and watched each and every sunset at the tower, and stormy ones were her favourite.

But as beautiful as the rain was, it often brought lightning, which meant Nelson had to keep a very sharp eye out for fire.

And those fires did sometimes take off, which meant it was off to the radio to call the engine crew to let them know where to go. Nelson very much enjoys the cooperation that goes into fighting a fire, from the moment it's first spotted to the directing of resources to the fire to the head-on-attack the engine crews would do to put them out.