The fires took something special to me. No, I didn't lose my house and nor did anyone I know personally (though one of the evacuated friends who was staying with us got to watch a couple of houses he helped build burn down). What the fires took were bike trails.
We knew it was going to happen. The bike trails in San Diego run through brush-filled canyons, which happen to be the same places fire likes to travel. One of our favorite rides of late had burned during the Cedar fire, and the remaining charred skeletons of trees surrounded by new growth gave the place a post-apocalyptic beauty.
I'm sure this will happen in time to the trails that burned in this most recent fire, but for now they are just charred. We were going to ride on one of the burned trails today, partly because it is a fun ride and partly out of curiosity to see the destruction first-hand. It turns out the trail is closed due to fire damage. How the fire damaged dirt and rocks, I will perhaps never know. I suppose they're concerned that people will not know where the trails are, due to the lack of foliage.
The silver lining was that we discovered a rather fun trail at a site we previously considered somewhat uninteresting. We had previously thought that this new trail was short and therefore not worth riding, but it wound up being quite long and fun, full of scenic views and technical trails.
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