When things burn

Okay, I've been bad and have not added anything to this site in a long while. Bad me. I did not burn up, nor did my computer, although other places in my state have burned, and burned hotly. Husband has gone off on a fire or two, just little things compared to the big conflagration in southern California that burned 160,000+ acres. That fire, in Angeles National Forest has been in the news quite a lot the past few weeks. Hubby was sent a copy of this photo, and I just had to post it here.


Yes, the sign appears to be on fire.
If you've ever been in air as yellow/orange as what you see in the image, it is quite hard on the lungs. The Station Fire burnt approximately 160,000 acres in the San Gabriel Mountains which are on the east side of the Los Angeles basin. When that many acres of chaparral burns, it burns hot and puts out an awful lot of yuck into the air.

When I was a kid I lived in Sunland, which is one of the towns that butts up against the same area that burned in this fire. As a kid, I recall a huge fire that came from the mountains almost into town and saw huge flames on the hills that butt up against the town. This fire burned the same area, plus a heck of a lot more.

Chaparral is an interesting mix of plants that have evolved to survive fire. The plants will resprout after a fire, growing from stored reservoirs of energy that are in the plant roots. They have huge, bulb like swellings below ground level that store enough nutrients to allow regrowth. They are meant to burn. The plants grow very large and dense and every 30 to 50 years, fire burns things up. The roots remain, resprout, and the plants come back. Even oak trees that grow in chaparral tend to resprout.

I own a book on chaparral that discusses all sorts of interesting things about the chaparral plant community, including beetles that mate on burning branches! I never heard of these before reading it in the book. My fire-fighter husband never mentioned it at all, in all his years of working on wildland fires, until I brought it up. He said yes, there were such beetles and they come out enmasse during fires in the chaparral!

In pursuit of remote giant sequoia groves

I took a drive yesterday, thinking I'd visit the two southernmost groves of giant sequoia trees, and see what those groves looked like. One needs a forest map to figure out just where those groves are tucked away and one also needs a vehicle that can handle rugged dirt roads.

The three southernmost groves are found in Giant Sequoia National Monument, off of Mountain 50, the road that goes from California Hot Springs to Johnsondale. Without a map and watchful eyes, the dirt roads are very easy to miss. One needs to read the numbers on the roads to verify you found the right one. The southernmost grove, Deer Creek Grove, has a road that begins way down in the foothills, near the Hot Springs Ranger Station. That road is even marked with a sign stating the grove is 3 miles away, but unfortunately, the road is in horrible shape and is closed about one mile along. Huge ruts that looked pretty much impassable for my lightweight suv made me back up and turn around. I stopped in at the ranger station to ask about the road and learned it has been closed for two years. One can hike in, but I didn't feel like doing that in 90 degree heat and all alone, with a very steep ascent.

Next, I tried getting to the Starvation Creek Grove, and that road was almost hidden at the back of a large turnout, on a bend in the main road. The road was tolerable, and my urban suv did okay. Down near the creek bottom, the brush was scrapping the sides of the vehicle, and some of the ruts were pretty deep. A high clearance vehicle is a must on that road. The forest was very dense and overgrown, with so many small diameter trees one could not see much but dense growth. At one point, near the creek bottom, I caught a glimpse of one tall giant sequoia tree, with its upper third rising above the rest of the very dense forest. (tallest tree in the image below is the sequoia).


The road crossed the low point, and began to rise, leaving the conifers and entering a dry, oak covered area, where abruptly the road ended in a small clearing. Looking around, I saw nothing but super dense growth and no sequoia trees visible. No trail, just overgrown, incredibly thick vegetation. A fire hazard for sure, and not a place for a lone person to bushwhack. Hopped back in my car and drove back to the main road. So much for visiting the two southernmost groves.

This trip did not find me driving to the third most southern grove, Packsaddle Grove, but I did visit it a couple of years ago and it is quite nice. It is located on top of the ridge, and down the sides, with the terrain much gentler in slope so one can actually wander through portions of the grove with relative ease. There are two ways to access the road, with the higher dirt road that is off of Mountain 50 on the west side of the pass the better road by far. (the lower road, nearer Johnsondale, is in bad shape).

Wildlife in the Mixed Conifer forest

A visit to the woods is always best when it includes seeing a few animals. Squirrels, of course are often present, along with numerous birds. What is sad is when an hour of woodland travel has few sightings of such critters. If I'm hiking about and don't see such small critters with ease, something is up with the forest.


Healthy habitats with a good mix of plant species always seem to have an abundance of animals present, from insects to birds, to small mammals and reptiles. Reduce the variety of plants and the animals seem to go elsewhere.




A variety of plants means a lot of things to eat, which in turn attracts animals. Reduce the pickings, and you reduce the eaters, pretty simple. In the Sierras, there are different plant communities, with the prevalent species growing where conditions are right for those particular plants. With elevations going from about 400' to 14,000 feet above sea level, there is room for a lot of different plant types, and in turn, a variety of animals.



The mixed conifer forest contains many plant species, from conifers to oaks, to shrubs and annual plants, which provide food and shelter to its varied animal inhabitants, including ground squirrels and garter snakes.

When I walk in the Sierra Nevada, the mixed conifer forest is one of my favorite plant communities to visit, as it smells wonderful, and the chance to see wildlife is high. A visit often includes deer, squirrels, chipmunks, jays, ravens, woodpeckers, assorted song birds, lizards, maybe a snake (especially if near a creek), maybe a bear or coyote, occasionally a weasel or other small predator.

Peeing in the woods

Every creature eats and eliminates, it's part of the way of life. But, of all the creatures on earth, it seems to be humans who are picky about when and where they go to leave their leavings, and humans who get sick if they aren't extremely careful with sanitation. Disease and death can result from lack of sanitation which humans have learned the old-fashioned way of trial and error. Now we know to be careful, but what about when in the woods? And what about when lots of people use those same woods and leave waste behind?

Have you hiked a lot? If you've spent a day out hiking, if you stayed hydrated, then you had to pee, or maybe more. Did you take care to bury things, or at least move off the trail and away from water?



Restrooms are seldom found along the trail. Even in parks like Yosemite National Park where so many visitors use the trails for day hikes and back packing, even then, there are no restrooms on the trails. I've hiked with many a male companion who never leaves the trail to take care of business. Well, unless it's messier business, then they hightail it into the woods. Makes one think twice about taking a rest right on the trail. Did someone else take a rest in that same spot, and pee right there? Move it off the trail boys.

Most females I've traveled with find a bush for privacy. Ah, but do they bury stuff? Not always. So much toilet paper is in the woods, sitting in plain site. Bury it, please. Six inches below ground at least. Under a rock or log if you can't dig. And those "feminine products"? If in the woods, don't use plastic. Take the plastic with you. Heck, if out for a day hike, carry a ziplock baggie and put all that non-biodegradable stuff in it. Bury things that will decompose, DEEP. Animals will dig up stuff.


Trails get lots of human traffic, and keeping those areas clean and free of fecal pathogens would be nice. Get off the trail and bury things. And don't pollute the waters either!