2020: The Year of Loss
California terrain was the main reason I relocated to the Golden State, way back in 1984. I had just graduated from high school and like millions, decided to head west to see what the West Coast was all about. I immediately fell in love with Southern California, the desert and Baja California. Enrolling at a community college in San Diego County, I began a journey of exploration, artistic dreams, documenting and in the field photography.
As a starving artist student, I would spend my free time (away from work and school), out camping in the nearby deserts or local mountains. It was always a gorgeous place to do my reading assignments, homework, and it was a cheap way to spend a weekend.
Now 40 years later - I'm still here in Cali. Northern Sierra. Loving it, traveling, working and documenting all the wild landscapes that I came out here to enjoy. Created a web site (back in 1996), just so I could follow my passions of working for myself.
However, the last decade of wildfires in California has me frightened and very worried. The wildfires are so large and destructive these days, that they are now deemed mega-fires.
As burnt acreage increases on the West Coast, so does structural damage, destroying parks, camps and ancient forests. Historical museums, rustic cabins and lodges. Whole towns and neighborhoods are being wiped out - by flames. Overgrown forests, lack of firefighters and then perfect conditions, for uncontrolled fire.
As we oscillate between drought and deluge, with record setting rainfall, erosion brings landslides collapsing down on highways, or debris flows on to coastal mansions. The winds are stronger and dry lightning is a significant issue with starting remote wildfires. The healthy forest we once knew, weakened with insects, overuse and now bigger fires. The weather systems and wildland fires are getting more destructive and this cycle doesn't seem to be slowing down.
In the year 2020 - everything changed. All of a sudden.
Actually my first 'personal collapse' began with the 2008 meltdown, and loosing my home in the Kern County mountains.
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| Pine Mountain Club, from San Emigdio |
Global Pandemic + Huge Wildfires
One after another, I had 4 friends pass away in 2020. Camping buddies, dear freinds and a college roommate. Middle aged, healthy people - who were into the outdoors, like me. Individuals who died way too young. I was shocked, saddened and dismayed. I poured through photos and online posts remembering them, thinking about our travels together and crying, knowing I would never see them again.
You never think that your cyberspace profile will outlast YOU, as a live human, but it probably will.
Then after emotionally dealing with the death notices, the real panic began - the record breaking heat and wild fires. Just as Death Valley set record breaking temperatures, millions of Joshua trees were burning in the Mojave Preserve. We watched in horror as old growth redwoods burned in the Santa Cruz mountains. Then the helicopter rescue at a Sierra campground made the nightly news.
The air got toxic, the winds picked up, the power got shut off - and then we evacuated.
Running for our lives, we escaped the Northern Sierra - due to the BearFire. Most of my neighborhood was wiped out by the fast moving blaze, but somehow our house still stands. Talk about a miracle.
We have no power poles or phone lines yet, but I am still (after 25 years) 'working from home' with a loaner generator and satellite dish internet. I so honestly plan to update this blog more often, starting in 2021.
Like everyone, I am glad the year 2020 is over - but I have so many good memories and photos I want to share with the world. Discover my favorite outdoor places that we lost this year, plus see my groovy friends in action.
people that will be dearly missed:
places that were ravaged by wildfire in 2020:
Mountain Home State Forest = Sequoia Groves
(Castle Fire)
Big Basin State Park - Santa Cruz Redwoods
(CZU Complex)
Mojave National Preserve = Joshua Tree Forest
(Dome Fire)
Shaver Lake, Huntington, Red Lake, Coyote, Mammoth Pool
(Creek Fire)
Berry Creek, Middle Fork of Feather River
(Bear Fire)
Austin Creek State Park @ Russian River
(LNU Complex)
Mendocino National Forest
(August Complex)
In 2020 alone, old growth Redwoods, a million
Joshua trees, and hundreds of giant Sequoias have perished. Shocking reality from the New York Times