Went down the coast, Saturday. Was surprised the signs were still up, the barricade was still in place. My road was still closed. This was around 9:30 am. Down the coast, I noticed Salmon Creek was doing a brisk business. Hmmm…

Got back to the dirt around 4 pm. Barricade gone. Oh, shit. It was nice while it lasted. Two months without tourists, campers, yay-hoos and beer-guzzlin’ rednecks, shootin’ up the wilds. It was peaceful, but for the cause of this wonderful solitude.

I expected the hills to be crawling. I was happily mistaken. I saw two vehicles. One, coming down, and another in the middle of the road, getting out of my way, or pulling in to camp, I could not be sure. I also saw a load of firewood. I tried not to jump to conclusions.

I motioned the gal over, while the guy backed up the truck. “Is that firewood in the back? You are not planning on having a campfire, are you?” She looked so horrified, I was almost sorry I asked. She gave the sign of a hex. “Absolutely not!” She said. “That is for friends in Big Sur, for their winter wood! I would NEVER have a fire up here, right now!”

You know, I completely believed her.

Today, I found my old book from the “Wild” Fire of 1996. I have old photographs, newspaper articles, and surprisingly a BAER report advising residents what they could do to mitigate the damage of the fire with reseeding, mitigating run-off, etc. Did not realize I’d kept that. Will be interesting to see the differences between 1996 and 2008’s recommendations. When I get time (maybe this winter?) I will try to scan some of that into my computer so I can post it. I also found my old book from the El Nino of 1998. I guess I am a historian at heart.