Labor Day Weekend in the Wilds

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.