Flag Notes

[Jim]

A thread for notes on Flagstaff.

Did anyone catch Reno 911 last night? They zinged Flagstaff in the opening moments.

Nothing makes me happier than to hear the name of a town I have lived in for slightly more than 2 and 1/2 years mentioned on a late night cable TV show. According to Reno 911, we have competent police.

[skatchkins]

I giggled at that part

[JoelHazelton]

Reno 911 is still on? Man, it's been too long since I've had cable.

[hippiepunkpirate]

My username is "hippiepunkpirate".....don't get me started on Flag police

[Jim]

No sense in starting a new topic:

Last night I was sitting in the driveway at a friends house in east Flag near the base of Elden. Its slightly higher than the rest of town and has a good view to the south. It is one of the few areas in town where you can see Mormon Mountain. In the Flagstaff area we have seven peaks that are either over 9,000', or have a fire lookout tower, or radios towers on them. They are Bill Williams Mt, Sitgreaves Mt, Kendrick Mt, the San Francisco Peaks, O'Leary Mt, Mount Elden, and Mormon Mt.

Out of all of these mountains, only Mormon Mt has towers with lights on them; at least one tower on Mormon has several red lights that flash and are visible from Flag and further away. Obviously, on mountains like Sitgreaves, Kendrick, the Peaks, and O'Leary it wouldn't make sense to put lights up since they don't even have power going to them and only 2 of them have fire lookouts on them. However, both Bill Williams and Elden have fire towers and many tall communications towers on them, yet they do not have any warning lights on the towers or the mountain.

My theory is that Elden's and Bill William's radio towers are there and some are moderately tall, but they're not that much taller than the actual mountain and therefore do not meet a requirement to have warning lights placed on them. The one with the lights on Mormon Mt seems to be at least 100' taller than the mountain. Is this pretty much the case? Does anyone know of any other hills or mountains with taller towers that don't have light?


Oh yeah, I notice that my hike description for Mormon Mt has no photographs. I nominate Hippiepunkpirate to hike it and photograph it.

[nonot]

Usually depends on how tall the towers are and proximity to airports.

[chumley]

I've been up on Mormon a few times. If I had to guess on the lights I would say that its partially because of the airport, and also partially because there's nothing else anywhere near it. Not sure about Williams, but Elden is basically in the "shadow" of the SF peaks, so there is plenty of terrain nearby. But Mormon Mtn is sort of alone 30 miles south of any other higher terrain.

But there are other peaks down the way that are over 8k (Hutch Mtn. comes to mind ... and has a fire lookout and some kind of communications tower but doesn't have any lights either). So I'm thinking that the airport is probably the primary reason for it. I'd have to look and see if the standard flight patterns for FLG go near Mormon Mtn.

[hippiepunkpirate]

Oh yeah, I notice that my hike description for Mormon Mt has no photographs. I nominate Hippiepunkpirate to hike it and photograph it.

Only took me a month to notice your post I'll put it on the "to do" list for the next few weeks!

[azbackpackr]

Hey Flag guys. My daughter lives there, and after 6 years hasn't climbed the Hump yet, but says she wants to this year. She's taken up running, to get in shape for it. I told her she should try Elden first. So she plans on hiking Elden soon (she's out in Minnesota right now.) So what should I tell her re the rabies issue? Has that died down at all?? She says she had heard nothing about it--that I am the only one who has told her about it. She doesn't read the local newspaper, though. She had heard nothing whatsoever about the quarantine of pets, either. So the locals must not be putting up posters, etc., for people who don't read the newspaper. I'm amazed they have this rabies problem and can't get the word out other than from the newspaper and TV. (Who the heck bothers to watch Flagstaff TV, anyway?) You'd think the health dept. would put up signs and posters around town. Wouldn't cost much, just a ream of paper and some ink, a staple gun, etc. She has lots of friends, and apparently it wasn't getting around via the student grapevine, either, because she had never heard about it.

[hippiepunkpirate]

I've seen posters at the local hotels warning guests, and at some of the local trailheads, but that's about it. I've haven't heard about any new attacks recently, and Elden seemed its normal busy self last Sunday when I did Fat Man's Loop, so I think people have gotten over being worried. Tell her to carry a walking stick for protection and be aware of nearby wildlife.

[hippiepunkpirate]

An interesting thing about Flagstaff is that because daytime high temperatures are only about 85 degrees on the hottest summer days, most homes in the Flagstaff do not have air conditioning installed. Therefore, most of our homes here in Flagstaff are probably hotter inside than all those air conditioned homes down in Phoenix and Tucson. Most nights it is much more comfortable to sleep outside under the stars rather than inside your home, which cools at nowhere the same rate as the outside air.

[azbackpackr]

Yeah, same thing here in Eagar, although I have a brick home and I can just open the door and windows and it's fine. I haven't had problems being too warm at night. I can't stand air conditioning, especially when they keep places at 70 degrees when you're used to being outside in the 100's. When we lived in Tucson we had swamp coolers, which are cheaper to run, but don't work well during monsoon. Also when we lived there I always kept a sweatshirt in the car in case I had to go into one of those cold buildings. Doctors' offices are the worst.

[hippiepunkpirate]

It was 83 degrees in my bedroom last night at 1 AM, while outside it was probably about 60 degrees.

[chumley]

Doctors' offices are the worst.

Movie theaters. Its 115 outside and I can't wear shorts to a movie or I'll freeze.

[writelots]

Most nights it is much more comfortable to sleep outside under the stars rather than inside your home, which cools at nowhere the same rate as the outside air.

That's the best part of having an evaporative cooler. Not only does it cool the air during the day... But at night it takes that nice cool desert air and pumps it into your house much faster than old-fashioned cross-ventilation ever could. An amazing system, truly, and SO much cheaper than AC.

Of course, you can ask me how in love with it I am next month, when all it's doing is increasing the relative humidity in my house to 'freaking miserable' percent...

[azbackpackr]

I never minded the humidity and warmth too much, but my husband did. The things I liked least about swamp coolers were the noise and wind. I prefer a very quiet house, and not a lot of moving air. However, that being said, it is WAY cheaper than AC, and plus, I would get used to it after awhile.

If you are outside a lot you do get acclimated to the heat, and then the AC is just too cold. Most people shun that heat, though. I remember living in Tucson, and by late April, early May, you would begin to hear a new sound around town, a kind of whining note: "Eeeeyew, it's so HOT!" It really gets old, y'know, living in a place that's so well-known for its summer heat, and then you have to listen to complaining all day long. Why don't they just move back to California?

[big_load]

I never minded the humidity and warmth too much, but my husband did.

Swamp coolers can be good and bad. Under the right condition they cool quite effectively, but I stayed at a place in CO where everything in the room was soggy by the second day. I just turned it off and lived with the heat.

[dysfunction]

didya have a window open? If someone manages to close them all, that is when I notice the soggies.

[big_load]

Probably not. The cooler was in the only window that wasn't nailed shut.

[chumley]

I love the swamp cooler April-June (and October/November). Its very refreshing stepping out of the shower into a bathroom thats 52°!

But then I switch over to refrigeration when the humidity rises. Its the best of both worlds.

I would think that a swamp cooler in Flagstaff would be great all summer. Once the monsoon starts up the days tend to be cooler (especially when afternoon storms roll through) than the hot, dry days of June.