LESSONS FROM A FIRE FOOTPRINT

 …second in a series from a long-put-off road trip

 

Northern California has always been my home.  For seventy-plus years my favorite places on earth always seem to be here.  The Covered Bridge on Butte Creek near Chico [page 81*], an out of town spot I’d pedaled to as a kid; Simpson Camp [page 186], a sheep herder’s outpost up toward Mendocino Pass; Mount Harkness [page 101], the Lassen Park promontory once staffed by Ed Abby: all hold memories of cool temperatures, fresh air, terrific views and get-away-from-it-all peacefulness.  And all places now visited by fire.  

 

I know this because I often hop on my motorcycle to visit some favored place and rekindle some memories.  Now, each time I straddle the thing, I find myself motoring into mile after mile of burn scar.  There’s no escaping it.

 

 

My riding buddy from Seattle and I met up in McCloud (Siskiyou County) to tour places of remembrance – expecting and enjoying views of Mounts Shasta and Lassen, Lakes Britton and Almanor and bergs Chester, Greenville and Quincy (Plumas County).  Except, Greenville ~ the Greenville I once knew ~ wasn’t there any longer.  The mostly wooden structures of its historic downtown must have gone up like a dried tinder match during 2021’s monstrous Dixie Fire.  I stood inside the foundation of  my once favorite café to snap a picture of the burned out hulk of the old Indian Valley Bank.

 

The Dixie Fire originated more than forty miles away in the depths of the Feather River Canyon. Pushed by gale-force winds, it spread east and north through forest and meadow and summer home tract and town consuming everything but memories. Up the road from Greenville, we stopped to stroll though some Plumas Forest acreage two-plus years removed from the inferno.  Blackened ponderosa pine trees spired toward an azure sky, likely awaiting salvage harvest.  But beneath the skeletons grew grasses, lupine, mule’s ears, even ferns. Life was returning.

 

 

This was reassuring because one can’t drive too far from wherever they live in almost any direction and not drive through burn scar.  Evidence is plentiful and bigger than ever.

 

Climate is naturally dynamic and ever-changing, but the boost mankind has provided over the last century-and-a-half is not a positive thing.  This I give passing thought to as I motor around Northern California on my fossil fuel powered, internal combustion motivated Moto Guzzi motorbike – and having a fine time – putting off until another day the uncomfortable conversation we all must eventually have with ourselves.

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* Not to oversell the yet-to-be New York Times best seller Eden, Indeed: Tales, Truths and Fabrications of a Small Town Boy, but the page numbers noted above refer to specific tales from the collection.

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Church of the Open Road Press