(this blog was begun Monday night, October 14 2019)
I am very sad tonight. If you saw my post on Facebook earlier this evening, and the photo that accompanied it, you know that I went to Aliso Canyon Park this afternoon and saw that it is all burned up from the Saddleridge fire. Grimsley called me to report this horrible news. He told me I'd be shocked when I saw it, and I was, but I was also deeply saddened because I have loved that place so much, and I'm not sure it's ever gonna be the same, even when it grows back. The one bright spot, for which I am grateful beyond words, is that the forest section of Aliso - comprised of closely grouped old growth oaks (which must be hundreds of years old) - is still intact. I saw, after last year's horrific Woolsey Fire, that the oak trees in El Scorpion Park and also at Corriganville withstood the flames in both places. When I visited those parks last Spring, after strong Winter rains, I was heartened to see green leaves emerging from the branches of trees that were charred and looked dead, but were not.
The loss at Aliso is far worse than even at El Scorpion, which I documented with photographs at this same time last year. One thing especially breaks my heart, and that is the fate of all the critters who lived there. On my exploratory hike today, I walked past a formerly overgrown side trail that forks off into a part of the creek bed that was inaccessible to hikers because of the thick wall of brush. That was what I used to call "The Coyote's Lair", because on the occasions I saw him, he would be snooping around on the main trail and then, seeing me coming, would trot away down his "personal trail" to his home, beyond the impenetrable thicket.
Now, all of that is gone, burned to the ground. I walked past The Coyote's Lair and only recognized it by the angle of it's thin trail -which was now fully exposed like a line in the sand - and the fact that I'd passed it hundreds of times before. I thought of the coyote, who I considered one of my Aliso friends, and I prayed that he made it out of the park alive. There is really nowhere he can live now, at the park. No place he can call his own because most of the canyon is now just a wide open space of black dirt.
I also thought of the hundreds of bunnies that live there, who I would see hopping across the trail in the late afternoons. I used to say to them, under my breath, "aww, bunnies, what are you doing? Are you goofing around again"? When they would hop and hide, and then hop out again, I liked to imagine they were playing a game with me.
I have photographed the Aliso bunnies dozens of times. They are my friends too, and I hope they are okay, though I don't know how they can live there anymore either, as there won't be anything for them to eat.
If you have seen my FB photos over the years, you know I love the Aliso spiders and their magnificent webs. Every August, when it gets really hot they come up from underground and display their handiwork. I imagine they will be okay after the fire - insects can live through anything - but they won't have the same shady environs in which to weave their webs, not until things grow back.
I know the place will grow back, because I saw it happen at El Scorpion Park after only a single Winter's worth of rain. That park, which houses the ancient Cave of Munitz, was devastated by the Woolsey Fire, suffering almost the same amount of damage as Aliso, including the loss of some trees. But by Summer 2019, just a few months ago, you'd never know it had been burned at all. The flowers and greenery were lush and thick.......but if you had been there before, enough times to remember what it used to look like, you could tell that it wasn't quite the same, despite the regrowth.
The destruction at Aliso is worse than it was at El Scorpion, and even though I know it will grow back, many of the former landmarks will be gone, like the Coyote's Lair and the bushy Hideaway in the middle of the park. The underbrush has been completely burned away in 90 % of the park, and I worry about erosion if the rains come down too hard this Winter. I worry about large barren patches forming. Before the fire, the entire park and was lush and overgrown with nature. It's appeal was that it looked like a place from centuries ago. I worry that parts of the creek bed will erode and cave in.
And I worry that the animals won't come back, or at least not for several years.
Sigh. So many of my favorite places have burned in the last few years in the seemingly endless series of fires we have nowdays. Placerita Canyon was the first to go; it burned down in July 2016. The good news is that it is set to reopen in 2020. My fingers are crossed that it will look at least partially the same as it did, and not be simply remade with all new plantings. Last year, both El Scorpion and Corriganville were badly burned. El Scorpion has recovered, as noted, but with a significant loss of favorite trees. And at Corriganville, the old Devil Tree that I used to photograph over and over again, was lost in addition to others. As I say, Aliso suffered worse than either of those parks, but the great, great news is that the central forest was mostly unaffected. Thank You Lord.
On my hike yesterday, I ran into a couple of firefighters who were walking around checking for hot spots. They asked me some questions about Aliso, the length of the trail, how long the park had been in existence. We had a nice conversation, and of course I thanked them profusely for all they have done for us. "I tell everybody we have the best firefighters in the world", I said, and it's true. They told me not to worry, that the place would be fine "even though it might take a few years". They too marveled at the resilience of the oak trees, and also pointed out that a couple of their colleagues came across a pair of tortoises who were crawling along the creek bed. "Wow", I replied. "I've been up here a couple hundred times in the past few years and I've never seen them before". We figured that they must have lived in some inaccessible part of the underbrush, just like the coyote. Being tortoises, there was no way they could've run from the fire, but they somehow made it through anyway.
And maybe the hares escaped.
The news of the tortoises gives me hope. Maybe all the animals will eventually come back. They still have the forest to live in, although I don't know that they could be comfortable there, as it is usually filled with hikers. I suppose I will be going up to Aliso a lot this Fall and Winter, to monitor it's progress of renewal. I probably won't see any results until at least next Spring, but I just feel the need to be up there, to keep an eye on the place and give it back some of the good vibes it has given me. Aliso has been my very favorite nature spot, and my favorite hiking place for over five years now. I pray that it comes back strong. ///
I did watch a movie tonight, the original "Friday the 13th" (1980), because I needed something mindless that I could just kind of stare at. I was too numb from what I saw at Aliso to pay attention to any involved plot, and thank goodness that "Friday" was just as devoid of story as I remembered it being when I saw it in the theater nearly 40 years ago. Back then, I thought it was a "Halloween" rip-off, and after seeing it again last night I will double down on that conclusion, but in fairness I must say that this time, I did notice some positive attributes. The photography was very good, even artistic in places, and the young actors were likeable and uniformly effective. They made me once again wish I could go back to the 1980s. What a fun decade it was, just so long as you didn't have a psychotic slasher chasing after you. :):)
Well, it's now Tuesday Afternoon, and you know what you have to do. I trust you have your "Days Of Future Passed" CD at the ready? Okay then.......cue it up.
I am gonna head over to Super King for a truckload of veggies, and then back to Pearl's. I will see you again tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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