strange trailhead hazard
Posted by Zonie on March 10, 2024 at 01:07:46
We still don't have the new furnace operator we need. In the company tradition of nepotism, Antonio's uncle, Steve, was hired to be glass beader. He seems to be a bit nervous about safety issues. Plunging hot steel into oil seems a bad idea to him. I was a bit nervous about safety issues Thursday. At 1 AM Nick of the night shift telephoned me at home to report that he smelled gas in the generator room. I told him to telephone Southwest Gas, and they'd have someone out straight away. When I got there in the afternoon, Antonio said the endothermic gas generator was the source of the leak and that he'd repair it Monday but that he was still running it. I passed the message on to the night shift in the strongest terms that under no circumstances was Dustin to smoke cigarettes in the generator room.
I got some bad news from the gear situation. Roundhouse is discontinuing their button-fly overalls. I suppose we'd have little effect on the market. I doubt many customers have said, "I like button-fly for ease of urination after mud wallowing."
Last Sunday's mud hike didn't seem worthy of a post. It was cool, so I didn't wallow, and there weren't many mud puddles left, so it was mostly hiking and only a little stomping. Thursday we had some unexpected rain in some areas, and Deer Valley Airport had 0.44", so I figured there might be some remnant mud in the west segment of Reach 11. Getting that hike started, however, was an adventure in and of itself.
I parked in the parking lot by the off-the-leash dog park, an entrance I don't use very often. There's a very short freeway that ends in a roundabout, and in North America many of us still haven't figured out roundabouts, but I arrived safely. This trailhead had some amenities the others don't have. One was a lavatory. I thought I'd relieve myself in style. Big mistake!
Once I did my business, I turned around and found the door unresponsive. At first I thought I had forgotten to engage the privacy lock, but turning it back and forth the door would not yield. I found that the handle was just going all around with little resistance. It was broken. I got out my car key and used the metal chain piece to try to move the bolt. It was a hopeless task. I would learn later that the bolt was facing a direction that would allow it to be picked this way from the outside but not the inside. In desperation I started kicking the door. All the while this ultra-modern toilet with a motion sensor kept flushing itself. Finally a kick jarred something in the door and it opened.
I was free, but it seemed irresponsible just to continue my mud hike. It occurred to me that not everybody had the powerful legs of a mud slogger and that someone could be trapped in there for hours. I went back to my car and fetched my mobile phone. I telephoned 911.
I explained what had happened to the operator. She said she would connect have the park service telephone me. They never did. I waited for about an hour, but no phone call came and no park ranger truck arrived in the parking lot. I decided to go to the soccer field to the west and try to find a ranger.
When I got there, there were plenty of people, but nobody was from the city. They were just having a soccer game. I decided I'd scout ahead for mud holes and found two. I then went back to the parking lot. I verified that no new person had been trapped in the lavatory. I then turned off and put away my phone in frustration. I wasn't going to wait around all day. It wasn't warm enough that anybody would get heat-related illness being locked in the lavatory, and I vowed to check the door for trapped people when I got back and then go home and report the matter to City of Phoenix Department of Parks and Recreation via e-mail when I got home.
I headed back west. By then the soccer game was over and people were leaving the area. I still saw no ranger truck. I headed to one of the mud holes and was stomping around in it when I saw a van parked to the north. I headed over to it, but it was a telephone company van. I then headed back to the other mud hole and was stomping in that when I saw a ranger truck drive by. I figured the ranger was going to the soccer field, so I headed back there.
When I got there the ranger was sitting in his truck with the window up. I motioned to him that I wanted to talk to him. He lowered the window a little. I told him about the malfunctioning lavatory door. He already knew about it. He had locked it in the morning but figured someone from the swing shift who arrived at work early must have unlocked it. He said he would talk to that other employee. I thanked him and headed back to the mud hole.
Not having to talk to any more city employees, I had a wallow. I then walked around in the arroyos and the back country enjoying being muddy and wet. This didn't last long. With the low humidity and the strong sunshine as we approach the equinox, I dried quickly and the mud flaked off my overalls. Finally I headed back. When I got back to the trailhead I was pleased to see an "out of order" sign and caution tape on the lavatory with the defective door.
Well I've learned my lesson. If I need to relieve myself in any city recreation area, mountain preserve or desert preserve, I'll go in a mesquite thicket or an arroyo. No more modern sanitation for me!
- Re: strange trailhead hazard LeviLovR 13:37:55 3/12/2024
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- Re: strange trailhead hazard Zonie 07:57:49 3/13/2024
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- Re: strange trailhead hazard Zonie 07:57:49 3/13/2024
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