OUT THERE: On the lookout

DEVIL’S HEAD - Bill Ellis leans against a corner of the fire lookout built atop this granite dome, bracing a pair of binoculars on the structure as he scans the surrounding forest.

It’s a ritual he repeats every 15 minutes, scanning the thousands of acres of Pike National Forest visible from this 9,748-foot vantage point. The Forest Service gave him a new map this year, but he sticks with the old one on which he knows every hill, ridge and rock.

“You’ve got to know the terrain,” Ellis said. “It’s just like a street address.”

Ellis has spent a quarter-century atop this mountain, although those years didn’t come altogether: Ellis’ first turn manning the Devil’s Head Fire Lookout came in 1966. In 1984, he returned, retiring in 1999, then coming back once more in 2002. Now 77, he hopes to stay at his post into his 80’s.

“As long as I can walk up the mountain and, hopefully, the job is available,” he said.

Sondra Kellogg is the Colorado state chair for the Forest Fire Lookout Association and served for two seasons as a lookout in the Roosevelt National Forest in the early 1960s.

“It’s a unique experience to live in a 14-by-14 glassed-in box that sways back and forth,” she said. “No electricity, no running water. The seasons were changing all the time. Sunsets were different every night. We could see from Long’s Peak to Denver.

“Once you’re a lookout, you’re always a lookout.”

During the season, May to September, Ellis lives five days a week in the tiny cabin at the base of the rock and is on duty at the lookout 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. It might seem like a remote and lonely existence, but the solitude is an illusion.

His wife, Margaret, joins him a couple days a week, along with a 2-year-old grandson they’re caring for. Their nine children call often, or hike up to visit. Plus, Devil’s Head is one of the most popular hikes in Pike National Forest, attracting more than 20,000 visitors a year.

“If you’re not into people, they’ll drive you crazy,” Ellis said.

Ellis hands out green cards to every visitor certifying that he or she has indeed climbed to the lookout and is thereby a member of the “Ancient and Honorable Order of Squirrels.” The cards are a memento for hikers. For Ellis, they’re a handy way of tracking how many people visit.

Between the tourists, hauling water, cutting firewood and keeping watch, Ellis said there’s not a moment of downtime in a typical day.

“It’s a lot of fun, I’m not complaining,” he said. “I just don’t have the time people think I do.”

It’s easy to mistake the lookout for a tourist attraction. There are scribbled lists, directions, facts and figures posted all over the lookout. “People who have climbed the tower 100 times” (there are five), “Blind visitors,” “Visitors with an artificial leg,” “Fires reported by Devil’s Head.”

For all the tower’s terrific views, the “Order of the Squirrels” cards Ellis hands out to visitors and the Devil’s Head T-shirts he sells, the reason Ellis is here, the reason the lookout was built in 1912, is to spot fires.

These days, with planes overhead and mobs of tourists descending on every inch of the Front Range, there’s less need for lookouts. There are only six staffed fire lookouts left in Colorado — down from about 30 decades ago.

Only two of those are staffed by the U.S. Forest Service, and Ellis is the only lookout of any sort on the Front Range.

“It’s competitive, everybody in the Forest Service, they’re looking for smokes,” Ellis said. “To be the first is getting to be pretty hard.”

He’s an anachronism, a romantic holdover from the past.

“Oh, there’s a smoke,” Ellis said, pointing to the northeast, where a thin column of smoke rises from behind a low ridge and is blown northward.

Ellis may be an anachronism, but he knows his business. He’s instantly on the radio and a fire crew is on its way to the blaze. Ellis sights down the fire finder — a round contraption that looks a little like a sundial that allows spotters to pinpoint a “smoke.”

On his busiest day ever, Ellis reported a dozen fires in one shift. Since the Hayman fire burned much of the deadwood in the region in 2002, fires have been rarer, and 2009’s wet summer has meant that, before this fire, Ellis reported only one smoke.

Most fires in the Pike are caused by lightning strikes. They smolder overnight and then pop up just after lunch. A campfire spreads out and diffuses before it rises above the tree canopy. A real fire will grow to about a tenth of an acre by the time it’s visible.

This fire, south of Long Scraggy Peak, starts later in the afternoon and, thanks to the damp conditions, grows slowly. It’s a an acre and a half in size by the time a four-man fire crew from the Forest Service arrives on scene, an hour and 45 minutes after Ellis called it in.

“The worst part is the waiting,” he said. “Wondering if you’ve got it right.

Before the crew arrives, Ellis is in charge of the response to the blaze. If it’s growing quickly, he could call in reinforcements, air support and additional firefighters if it were required. Once the ground crew is on the scene, they take over and begin to dig a line around the fire, or call for help if needed. On this one, the four-person fire crew on scene is enough. They work until nightfall, then return the next day and the day after to make sure no hot spots erupt.

Ellis stays on duty until the crew declares the fire contained about 8 p.m. Then he climbs down the 143 steps to the cabin and prepares for another day on the lookout.

DEVIL'S HEAD FIRE LOOKOUT
Getting there: From Sedalia along U.S. 85 south of Denver, take Colorado 67 west for 12 miles to Rampart Range Road and follow it 10 miles to the turn for Devil’s Head Lookout and campground. Follow the signs to the tower trailhead. You also can take Rampart Range Road north from Woodland Park, but driving 30 miles of washboard gravel roads won’t save you any time.

The hike: From the trailhead, hike 1.4 miles up to the meadow, then climb the 143 steps up to the lookout. The trail gains 940 feet and no water is available at the top.

History: The first lookout here was built in 1912. A second lookout, built in 1919, hosted the first woman lookout in Colorado, Helen Dowe. The current structure was built in 1951 by an engineers from Fort Carson. Bill Ellis has manned the lookout all but two years since 1984.

COLORADO FIRE LOOKOUTS
There are six fire lookouts still staffed in Colorado. One, the Deadman Lookout near the Wyoming border, is staffed by volunteers. Another lookout, the Jersey Jim Lookout in San Juan National Forest near the Four Corners area, is available for nightly rental.

For more information:

Forest Fire Lookout Association: www.firelookout.org

Jersey Jim Fire Lookout Tower: www.fs.fed.us/r2/sanjuan/recreation or 1-970-533-7060

Devil’s Head Fire Lookout: www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/spl/devils_head

If you’re interested in helping to maintain the Devil’s Head trail and lookout, call Scott Dollus, 303-275-5610
or e-mail sdollus@fs.fed.us