In 2011 I headed up to California’s White Mountains to try to jump start my altitude acclimatization for my 97 Switchbacks at Night photo project in the next couple of days. I spent some time at the highest grove, the Patriarch Grove, above 11,000 feet exploring it for the first time. Just before I arrived there I saw a large animal off to my west. I was confused by this. There are not supposed to be large animals in the White Mountains at 11,000 feet. It was a horse! A huge magnificent mustang. He was quite a ways away, but I snapped a few photos nonetheless. A few of them I rather liked, as the contrast of this lone animal on the ridge was striking, particularly rendered in black and white with a yellow filter.
My first encounter with Campito
When I posted this image to Flickr, a fellow Flickr user George Grossman identified the horse as Campito, named after the meadows surrounding his namesake Mountain where he I learned likes to hang out and graze. I was intrigued. I then further learned of his legend, which was that he was an escaped pack animal, was solitary, had been there for decades, and that no one knew where we went during the famously harsh winters there. He was clearly healthy, and was plenty shy of us annoying humans who might try to get close, no doubt weary of his days of labor.
In subsequent visits I managed to catch a few more glimpses of him. I always tried to take some photos and he seemed to always be far away. Until one time, in 2014, when I visited the bristlecones and again was blessed with a sighting of this amazing animal. This time he was much closer than ever – close enough to get some detailed photos for the first time at 400mm at least. I carefully and quietly as I could captured some photos in the late light of the day. He did seem annoyed at the big red SUV that kept creeping around and slowly and methodically without much of a care began to wander off away. I gave the slowest possible chase from the road and for a few moments he gazed right at me, trying to ascertain the motives perhaps of a persistent but distant photographer before I watched him walk off into the Sun without the slightest concern for me. I couldn’t believe my luck to have had a chance to see him from such relative closeness, something I would never again experience.
A typical Campito encounterHappy flicking of the tail
I had heard of some people being able to approach Campito quite close, even giving him an apple or carrots, but I never attempted such. I was content to just be a far away observer (often wishing for reach beyond 400mm).
2014 was definitely my closest encounter. What a magnificent animal.
MagnificentWho are you looking at?Walking awayContemplativeWalking into the Sunset
Alas, my final encounter was in 2016, when as usual he was keeping well away of the road that ferried troublesome humans into his domain.
2016, my final encounter with Campito
A few months back I saw word on Instagram that Campito had passed on, and I was sad. I didn’t really want to believe it I guess, and I didn’t give it a ton of thought though recently the US Forest Service – Inyo National Forest confirmed that Campito was found in the lands of the White Mountains that were his home. The best guess at his age was 31 years, which is quite old for a wild horse. I always thought he was a magical sight there, and I loved his legend. He will be missed. Rest in peace Campito, the legendary free lone horse of the White Mountains.
I do hope to get back to writing non-“in memoriam” posts here on the blog in the future, universe permitting.
We won runner-up in the People and Space category at this year’s
Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition!
The Cable Route of Half Dome at NightTweet announcing our win!
That’s right we WON! I am humbled and honored to say that we won runner-up in the People and Space category for the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year. This is incredible! It is a huge honor win second place in this category, competing with so many amazing photographers from all over the planet. Right now I just don’t know what else to say. Below is a write-up of that trip which was just over a year ago. And I say “we” because this photo was a group effort and we all share equally in the resulting images.
So what do you do when your friend proposes a backpacking photo adventure to capture a night hike up the Cable Route of Half Dome with the Milky Way standing tall right above it? Well of course you go. My friend Sean Goebel proposed this idea last year and it was exciting. I had gone with Sean and other friends back in 2014 to essentially re-do my 97 Switchbacks At Night photo of the Mount Whitney Trail but with our small army and 8 cameras shooting digitally instead of with film. The trip was a success, though I never gave it a proper blog write up. Similarly I have not done a proper write up of this trip until now. Our collaboration led to time lapse and stills from our 5 cameras that we employed to capture one of North America’s crown jewels under the spectacular night sky. Wade Meade, who hiked Mount Whitney in the dark for us in 2014, would climb Half Dome in the dark for us on this trip. Above you can see my version of our close-up shot, with an exposure time totaling 64 minutes. More on that later. We were not sure that our luck would hold weather-wise. We were prepared to make two attempts, but in the end we were successful on the first try. Check out the time lapse:
The Cable Route of Half Dome at Night, Wide Edition
The Milky Way:
Milky Way Over the Cable Route
Capturing Half Dome at night with the Cable Route visible meant setting up on the east side. We settled upon Mount Watkins. This 8500 foot granite edifice provided the perfect view, unobstructed just across Tenaya Canyon. From there to the floor of Yosemite Valley is a nearly vertical 4,000 foot drop. The round dome to the right is North Dome, which was too much of a straight-on view for what we were after. In the background center of the image is Glacier Point, which is revealed by all the car lights in the time lapse in the wide view. Olmsted Point, which has similar views of Half Dome, was ruled out as too far away and the view too obstructed by Mount Watkins among other bits of granite and trees.
Google Earth view of Watkins and Half Dome.
As Sean states in the video, we hauled in the end 5 cameras and tripods plus all our assorted backpacking gear and water over a 5 mile hike with 1800 feet of gain up to the summit of Mount Watkins. Two cameras were dedicated to time lapse, and 3 cameras were dedicated to capturing stills, or longer exposures that would be added together to make the stills. For cameras, we had the following:
Canon 6D with Rokinon 24mm F1.4. – Time lapse camera for wide view of Half Dome, Yosemite Valley, and Glacier Point
Canon 5D Mark III with Zeiss Otus 85mm F1.4 – Rented, ridiculously sharp lens getting the close-up view of Half Dome for the time lapse
Canon 6D with Rokinon 50mm F1.4 – Camera capturing vertical images of the Milky Way over Half Dome but also time lapsing to capture the light trail
Sony A7R Mark II with Zeiss 25mm Batis F2 – Capturing long 8 minute exposures for the wide view of Half Dome, Yosemite Valley, and Glacier Point to stack into star trails
Sony A7R Mark I with Zeiss 100mm Milvus F2 – Capturing long 8 minute exposures for the Half Dome closeup view to stack into star trails
For the time lapse cameras we had LiPo (lithium polymer) batteries powering the cameras all night and for the Sony cameras we just had a stack of Sony batteries since those cameras use lots of power. All told, our packs combined between camping gear and cameras totaled over 110 pounds, or about 55 pounds each. You feel that weight in ever step I can tell you! As it became dark, Wade was making his way from the valley floor up the back around Half Dome to get to the start of the Cable Route. We could communicate vie walkie talkie, telling stories and signaling when it was time to ascend or descend. In addition to his headlamp, Wade had a small lantern to help light up the trail around him in all directions as he hiked. There was no one else around hiking Half Dome at night that we could see. He had the whole thing to himself and enjoyed that quite a bit.
Post processing entailed adding the 8 minute exposures together for the sky and light trail, and averaging them for the ground to reduce noise. Grouping lots of images into one Photoshop file so you can combine them as an Smart Object for averaging makes for very large files (more than 10GB) and I am going to save detailed description of that tedious task for another post. My Sony cameras made a lot of noise! But in the end the images speak for themselves.
Here are some more views from along the way.
Daylight view from WatkinsCloud’s Rest (right) and Tenaya CanyonYosemite Valley, 4000 feet belowNorth Dome and BeyondLast Light on Half Dome
A Racing Rock. The Racetrack is for rocks, not cars.
Back in September of 2016 I visited the Racetrack and really had quite a reaction to the inconsiderate vandalism that had happened there. Some people had driven all over the playa, including in at least one spot over the tracks of racing rocks themselves. This is a unique spot on the entire planet, and driving is not allowed here. I was not prepared for that post to go viral, and I ended up being interviewed by the very kind Domenica Davis via Facebook Live on the Weather Channel’s page and my post was republished in Petapixel and reference in DPReview and other places.
Here’s a few other things that have happened since then.
Death Valley National Park posted on Facebook about the damage, including a traced map of some of the tracks across the entire lake bed.
News outlets like the LA Times published articles saying “Federal investigators have identified a suspect believed responsible for a frenzy of high-speed driving across “Racetrack Playa,” a remote dry lake in Death Valley National Park” after which I have not seen any further updates.
I heard a rumor that someone had laid new tracks around Christmas 2016 but I had not seen any photos or posts or articles about it.
I visited the park three times, twice in January and once in February when Badwater flooded. Badwater when flooded is one of the most magical places I’ve ever seen, and home to the most incredible sunset I’ve so far witnessed in my lifetime. I hope to write posts about those visits at another time. A bunch of other priorities kept me from coming back to the Racetrack, however, until Memorial Day weekend. Plus, if Badwater was flooded that meant Racetrack Playa was likely flooded too, or at least wet, and you do not walk on it when it is wet. I wanted to go there with the specific purpose in mind of revisiting the damage that inspired so much anger last September and to see what the historically wet 2016-2017 winter has done to repair the damage, if at all.
Armed with GPS coordinates of photos I took last fall, I went straight for the Racetrack on Saturday, May 27th. I said some words to a car full of naive visitors in Panamint Valley who were feeding coyotes (DON’T!), and helped a family who had a minivan in need of a jump in Stovepipe Wells where it was nearly 110 degrees before finally I made the long dirt trek to one of my favorite locations in the world. Late May is already getting to be quite hot in Death Valley. I don’t like to come here when it is hot, but at least at nearly 4,000 feet elevation the Racetrack would only be in the mid 90’s.
Getting to the heart of the matter, I’m going to detail five kinds of vandalism that has happened around here, starting with the most obvious.
1. Vehicle Tracks
This is what greeted me in September 2016:
Tracks from the start
As you can see, tracks fly away right from the parking area. At first, in May it seemed a little more hopeful:
No tracks… for the first few feet
From this vantage point, we were looking good. I wondered if the NPS had done some rehabilitation of the area right next to the parking area, but all hope quickly faded away.
Just a few feet away toward the Grandstand, it begins.
Strange tracks leading towards the Grandstand, 2017September 2016 looking towards the Grandstand
I tried to recreate exactly the photos I took in September, but alas a few factors were at work. First, I think the GPS from my phone was not very reliable when I took many of those photos. Second, there is definitely MORE damage than I remember from then, making tracks mixed up. And third, I quickly became overwhelmed with the quantity of tracks. So the next photos are all from the damage around the Grandstand, mostly between the Grandstand and the parking area. This damage is NOT part of what the National Park Service traced on their GPS map overlay.
Current damage as of May 2017:
So many tracks, May 2017more..Strange double-track winding in from northwestDouble track gets really close to the GrandstandAll overDeep circlesFresh looking motorcycle track crosses the older car tracks along with many footprintsLook how deep the car tracks are, and also all the footprints
Footprints are just as bad as car tracks! I’m glad the footprints didn’t venture far. Not all of the area around the Grandstand is currently in a ruined state, but most views to the East are polluted heavily by tracks. By my estimation, some of these tracks are new compared to my visit in September and others are the same. I wasn’t able to line up any exact photos of 1:1 damage between the two dates. However, I knew that Death Valley had posted that GPS map of some of the tracks and they were on the far east side. So I ventured out there to find those tracks as a measure of whether or not repair had happened this winter. More than 3/4 of a mile away from my car I found my answer. These next two photos are from the August 2016 joy ride that the National Park Service publicized not long after my viral blog post.
August 2016 tracks in May 2017August 2016 tracks in May 2017 II
It’s safe to say NO, TRACKS DON’T DISAPPEAR AFTER “THE NEXT RAIN.”
These August 2016 tracks were very much not gone and judging by their depth they will be around quite awhile. Maybe years. If you think about it, it makes sense. The lake bed surface needs to soak to be vulnerable to reforming. Gentle winter rains are not going to come down with enough force to cause the sediment to stir up enough to fill in those deep vehicle grooves. Perhaps a violent summer thunderstorm could help, but it’s going to take some time before these scars heal. This is one of the driest deserts on the planet.
From the Grandstand I moved on to the middle parking area. This area was an absolute mess in 2016:
Middle parking area adjacent, 2016
To my astonishment after the Grandstand I found that here some of the tracks were either largely repaired or diminished, or perhaps my phone GPS logged the wrong location. That’s not to say I didn’t find tracks there.
Tracks at the middle parking area 2017
After this brief stop at the middle, I moved to the final parking area which is the one closest to the most rocks.
Car tracks heading straight out towards many rocks, 2017
My heart sunk at the sight of this. I figured it didn’t bode well for this scene from September:
Car track crossing rock path 2016
I tried to navigate to this exact spot but I couldn’t find it despite having GPS coordinates. Where it was supposed to be there was no trail: no car trail and no rock trail. Since I took those photos with my phone, I think the GPS coordinates were possibly off quite a bit. I’m hoping it was repaired. I wondered around quite a bit and did not find any car trails that made it still into the main area of rocks. This has me yet again wondering if the NPS did some work out there to try to help repair the damage, or if nature was able to do a little healing at this end of the playa.
More 2016 rock adjacent damage that I was unable to locate
2. Footprints
You’ve already seen some pretty terrible footprints by the Grandstand parking area above, but there were plenty of other footprints at the south end too. DO NOT GO OUT ON THE PLAYA WHILE WET. Footprints can be just as bad as the tire tracks and last just as long, spoiling the experience for others who want to enjoy this magical place. A large cluster of footprints near the main rock parking area didn’t extend too far out but did go more than 1/4 mile out to some rocks. Whoever did this is incredibly inconsiderate.
May 2017: Nasty footprints wandering off onto the playaWhat a mess
Who wants to see that? Those are going to be there awhile. Please don’t do this. Posted signs say not to walk on the playa when wet for this reason.
3. Fake rock trails
Fake rock trails? Yes. This is a new form of vandalism I had not previously imagined. It seems some people arrived at the Grandstand on the north end and had no idea most of the rocks are at the south end. Perhaps frustrated and lazy, they opted to attempt to make their own fake trails using available rocks. You can tell they are fake because they just scratch the surface. I’ve been to the Racetrack more than enough times to easily spot this stupid faking. The ice floating on the water drags the rocks along, and the marks they leave on the surface even with small rocks has a well defined channel unlike these surface scratches. Look at this stupidity:
Fake rock trails, sigh.
Don’t do this. My only comfort is maybe it’s good that such inconsiderate people didn’t make it to where the rocks really are.
4. Moving or Removing Rocks
Yes, people steal the rocks. This is a crime. Don’t move or steal rocks please.
Missing rock
Where is the rock? It’s gone. When the rocks move, they leave trails. They only don’t leave trails when they are picked up and moved by humans. It’s heartbreaking and sad that people would do this. I’ve heard stories, and thankfully I have never witnessed anyone taking a rock myself. This photo is from 2008, so it’s not a new phenomenon, sadly. Apparently some people, before it was documented how the rocks move, thought the rocks themselves had some kind of mystical properties. The only mystical properties I hope the stolen rocks have is that they act as a curse upon the people that took them.
5. Defacing Rocks
While in the 8+ months since I first saw the massive extent of damage to this incredible unique place I reached a calm where my blood wasn’t boiling in documenting all this, but it still boils for this last one. This rock hasn’t moved since last September and there’s no word about any search for the awful people who did this. “D” and “K” should be banned from all national parks for life with this level of offense. The lake bed will heal one day. The rocks will not. These letters are chiseled into the rock, deep!
Defaced rock, May 2017
Where’s the emoji for infinite rage? That’s what this makes me feel.
Final Thoughts
The Racetrack right now is still heartbreaking. Maybe that’s because in the past I’ve only seen some occasional footprints here, which in the long intervals between my visits have been repaired over a timeframe of years. There is just a whole new influx of selfish visitors reaching this place in recent years I guess. I fear it will get worse. Since the news stories and articles, the National Park Service I read was exploring various ideas to improve or change the Racetrack in response to these crimes including increased ranger patrols, volunteers, re-configuring the road, erecting barriers against cars, or other ideas. I should note that the massive proposed budget cut to the National Park Service certainly won’t help. Please contact your representative and encourage them to increase rather than decrease NPS funding! We need for the NPS to have the resources they need to protect our special places.
I haven’t seen any news reports about any charges in the case of the joyriders who left the tracks. I don’t know what direct evidence there is. The damage at the Racetrack has definitely made it harder for me to convince myself to make the trek out to the Racetrack. I’m not the only one to ponder whether visiting the Racetrack is even worth it anymore. (Note that link is an article from 3 years ago)
I find this valley to be absolutely spectacular though, even if the rocks were not there. So there’s definitely enjoyment to be had. If the bad people can stay away long enough and thus not cause more damage, eventually the surface of the lake will be repaired. In my head I keep going back to the magic of the first time I ever visited this place back in 2008. There were some really amazing tracks back then. Recent rock moving events have not produced such varied trails and I am ever hopeful for a really nasty and chaotic winter here so that really interesting new rock tracks can be naturally carved. It is a dynamic place but the change is slow, as evidenced by the deep trails from last summer still easily visible.
If you see someone defacing this place, document and report it. Especially if it’s the special type of jerk who would chisel into one of the rocks. That’s inexcusable. This is a special place. Help protect it!
One last bonus: there was one really unexpected thing I saw on this most recent trip to the Racetrack. It brought a smile to my face even. Great Egret on the Grandstand
At sunrise on Sunday I went to the Grandstand for a change. And while I approached it I saw something that at first I figured was a person. But then it flew away as I got closer. It was a Great Egret. I think a very confused one. I don’t know what would lead such a water dwelling huge bird to end up at a dry playa in Death Valley National Park on the cusp of summer, but it was neat to see this magnificent creature here. As I explored it would fly away to another part of the Grandstand, keeping an eye on me. It never ceases to amuse me that such neat creatures with clear air superiority are so skittish about us gravity constrained humans. Death Valley is full of surprises, I hope when you visit you are pleasantly surprised.
Edit:
Hello, Internet! If you want to keep up with my photography, follow me on Flickr, Facebook, 500px, check out my other blog posts or even visit my portfolios. Cheers.
I haven’t done a blog post in awhile. I’ve been extremely busy. It’s not that there hasn’t been things to write about, but rather that all of my photographic efforts have been exhausted outside of the day job and it just hasn’t left me with anything left to devote to writing here. However, a trip last weekend to the Racetrack has left me with a burning need to write, and unfortunately it is because of the worst kind of people.
My mission was to capture some specific images of the Racetrack for a project. I made haste to get there as soon as I could before it got too hot. It is after all summer, and I wanted to get up to 3700ft before the main valley hit 110. It was in the upper 90’s when I finally started upon Racetrack Road. Oh Racetrack Road, you are still as bad as ever. Those 27 miles are always a relief when they are over. Finally, the Racetrack came into view. I was blissfully ignorant of what horrors were hidden from view at this distance. What follows is a mix of iPhone and Sony shots taken between 9/11/16 afternoon and 9/12/16 morning.
The Racetrack Playa finally in view
The Racetrack is a very special place. There are only two known places on the Earth where rocks move on their own across a lake bed. How they move was a mystery until 2014 when a couple of researchers finally witnessed it. The conditions have to be perfect, and those conditions might not happen for years between events. This is because of course Death Valley is a very dry place, which leads us to why the Racetrack itself is so fragile. When wet, footprints can last for years before conditions reach the point where the surface can reset. This is why signs say not to walk out on the lake bed when it is wet. Well, you are also not supposed to drive on it. This is regardless of whether it’s wet or dry. Unfortunately, when I drove up to the first of the three parking spaces, I found this.
Car tracks at the Grandstand
It seems the worst kind of people have recently visited the Racetrack. The worst kind of people.
If only there was a sign that said “NO MOTOR VEHICLES”They did loops around the Grandstand 🙁It doesn’t have to be wet to get damaged by inconsiderate people
The Racetrack Playa has three parking areas. The middle parking lot offered even greater horrors. Whoever did this, they really had zero consideration for anyone else.
What a mess
The damage was so extensive by the middle parking lot I couldn’t even bring myself to walk out and get a closer look. By this point my heart was really filled with dread. “Oh God, surely they didn’t go to the rocks too!” I thought. I pressed on.
Yes, they went there.
At least one track ventures all the way to the rocks. They were thorough in defacing one of the most unique places on Earth. Yes, that’s a track that curves between rocks before looping around. Photographic compositions here will be ruined for years. Experiences will be marred by tire tracks next to rock tracks. My planned shots around the Grandstand were ruined for this trip.
HorrorsYeah, the car tracks show up from afar tooThe worst people drove right over some tracksFrom the rocks area, car tracks tail off into the distance
It appeared that these people drove out right from the Racetrack parking area.
Tracks right from the Racetrack parking
I don’t recognize the type of tread. Anyone know what these are from? It seemed to be pretty recent. It can be quite windy and I would expect the wind to erase the soft prints in the sandy dirty here before long.
Treads of bad people
If I sound repetitive referring to these people as the worst, or bad, or terrible, or any number of other negative adjectives I’m not really sorry. This damage could last for years. The Racetrack is a special place. It’s not a place for cars to race, it’s a place for the Racing Rocks. Period. It’s a National Park. Be respectful. What I’m writing is incredibly tame compared to the thoughts that were racing through my mind as I came across this mess. This level of disrespectful, inconsiderate car track graffiti exceeded everything I previously thought possible. But unfortunately, the horrors would continue. 2016 has had abundant horrors.
Out at the rocks, some fainter trails of … something … crossed through some of the area. I don’t know what to make of them or how old they are, but they are just as abhorrent as the car tracks.
Human caused tracks of something crossing a rock trail
I don’t know what to make of this. At some other point on the playa there seemed to be bicycle tracks but the side-by-side nature here I find puzzling. This is minor compared to the final insult.
Chiseled into a rock, the initials of truly horrible people
A few weeks back I had heard a rumor that I prayed was not true. The rumor was that people were carving initials into rocks at the Racetrack. It’s been bad enough over the years that people steal rocks and move them. But this, this really takes the cake. At least the damage to the playa surface will one day be undone by the weather, even though it could take decades. This though, this will last far longer. These people, “D” and “K” chiseled a 1/8″ deep graffiti gouge into the surface of a large rock on the playa.
How does one get it in their head that this is ok? How does one think “Oh, it’s the racetrack! Let’s drive on it!” How does one think “Let’s chisel our initials onto one of the special rocks!” How does one get to such a selfish place in life? I hope these people are caught. I know that hope is about as improbable as winning the Powerball lottery, but in a perfect world, these assholes would be brought to justice. Anyone with any information please contact Death Valley National park. Defacing the racetrack is a crime.
I wish that the entire racetrack could be surrounded with severe tire damage spikes, carefully camouflaged to blend in unnoticeable from the surrounding dirt. I imagine such a person as recently defaced this sacred place trying to drive upon the playa only to have all 4 tires shredded before they could damage much. This would necessitate a very, very expensive tow from Miller’s Towing out of Lone Pine. But such things are just thoughts. Please be respectful to our sacred and protected places. They belong to us, they don’t belong to just you. Please, if you know anything contact the National Park Service. Please don’t deface the Racetrack, drive on it, steal rocks, or chisel into the rocks.
Edit, Tuesday 9/20:
Thank you to everyone who has responded to this post. I did not expect it to take off as much as it has. Seeing those recent tracks was infuriating but they are hardly the first ones I’ve seen there. They are the worst kind of people to visit the Racetrack. To be clear, if it wasn’t obvious, I’m not comparing them to all the other bad people or bad things that happen on the Earth
A few people have claimed that the car trails will not last years. I present you this shot from 2013 of vehicle tracks that you cross between the parking lot and the main moving rock zone. While I did not take a photo of these tracks on 9/11-12 of this year (2016), they are just as present now as they were then. It is plainly visible in Google Earth.
Old vehicle tracks seen in 2013 still visible in 2016
I hope that the awareness instilled by this post will encourage others to document and report anytime they see anyone driving out there or defacing or stealing stones or walking out on the playa when wet. I hope it will encourage people to be respectful of this uniquely amazing place. And finally I hope that Death Valley National Park can do a little more to discourage driving out there and stealing / defacing rocks. There is certainly room for improvement in signage and in obstacles to getting out there. I want us all to be able to respectfully enjoy this amazing spot in my favorite National Park. Please enjoy the unique natural beauty of the sailing stones of the Racetrack and leave no trace that you were there.
And finally I’ll add one of my photos from my first ever visit to Death Valley and the Racetrack back in 2008, when I fell in love with this incredible place.
Racing Rock, 2008
Please leave no trace.
Edit: I was interviewed live on Facebook by the Weather Channel’s wonderful Domenica Davis to talk about the damage and what makes the place special.
During my 12-hours-a-day 6-day week work marathon of the last week at the day job I could only briefly see the news of the fires that suddenly erupted across southern California just as a blast of the Santa Ana winds and heat arrived. The very first posts of this blog were of the “Station Fire” back in 2009, when an enormous wildfire destroyed some of my favorite hiking trails in the San Gabriel Mountains. Many of these trails remain closed in the burned areas. Last night I sat down and looked at a map of the Springs fire and became very sad since it appeared that this fire was doing the same to more of my favorite trails. This morning I decided to head out and see what I could see of the damage.
Sycamore Canyon was the first area that was burned out. However I could not really stop there as Caltrans was all over the place. The buildings there all looked like they were saved, but clearly the canyons beyond were totally burned. The entrance to Pt. Mugu had an area to stop and no one else around, so I got out to take a few pics.
Burned Out Mugu
As you can see, the devastation was near total in areas the fire reached.
Pt. Mugu Stata Park sign now with added character
The entrance sign had bubbled in the heat, but has been saved no doubt by firefighters.
End of the road sign
This scorched call box and destroyed sign were at the northern edge of La Jolla Canyon here just a short ways from the Mugu entrance sign. The road sign here wasn’t so lucky.
The whole area as far as I could see beyond the entrance way was just burned to a crisp. The entrance was of course blocked off and a sign warned of no entry permitted.
After Mugu I continued on. The fire jumped the PCH in a few places but was stopped. The military firing range had the palm trees at the entrance burned but the rest of the facility escaped harm. The Santa Monica Mountains on the north side from the point all the way through Camarillo are totally burned except for the area around the communications equipment which was saved. I continued driving along, getting off a the nearest east road and ending up at the Cal State University Channel Islands campus. The fire here reached the very edge of campus and was fought back. Here you can see the green campus grass and the burned hills immediately behind.
Fiery Edge of Campus
Just around the corner from the campus was the entrance to the University Glen Apartments. The entrance road was burned all around, with signs perhaps of the firefighter battle around like this odd patch of green in a sea of burned land.
A green flowering island in a burned sea
And this somewhat spared palm and bush
Green and black
I took a drive up Yerba Buena Road, which I was surprised was open. I thought the fire had reached there, but instead it was over at the next road north (Deer Creek). The area I had most feared was burned appears to be ok for now. The burn maps I’ve seen have shown the fire has reached almost up to the other side of this ridge in at least one place. With full containment expected tomorrow, I’m hopeful that this means the area is safe. My next hike here will have some seriously renewed appreciation for the green-ness around me.
Saved Landscape
And finally here’s a view of what has been temporarily lost. This is a hike I did with the Sierra Club’s Wilderness Travel Course back in 2010. Here is an image looking down on the Point Mugu entrance from above, followed by a picture from today showing the location the picture was taken from with a red arrow.
Looking down on Pt. Mugu State Park Entrance Location of previous view
Ultimately, wildfires are a part of the natural way of things here. Wildfires raged through clearing the greenery long before we humans showed up to stop them. The plant life will come back. For a long time it won’t look the same, but eventually the cycle will show us once again that it is just that – a cycle. Perhaps next weekend I will venture into the once burned areas of the Station Fire to see how the recovery there is coming along. Soon at least I will go revisit that desolation and I bet I my spirits will be uplifted by the renewal of life there. My thoughts are with the brave firefighters who are still fighting the Springs Fire. I hope it is completely contained soon.
