Fire Season

This is a week or so behind the times, but it was just a bit ironic given what has transpired over the past week around the Bay Area with local forest fires. Growing up in Oregon I find forest fires troubling to me on several levels. At the core I truly cherish the forest and all it encompasses. Many days of my youth were spent in the back acres of our property playing among the trees and streams of the forest. Seeing land like this go up in smoke just bothers me to no end.

I took this first photo as I was meandering through the east foothills of San Jose on an easy spin. I hadn't heard about the fire north of Davenport yet, but Smokey sure knew something was ominous. I don't know if this sign's fire danger level ever gets changed; the sign is located on a closed road section of Alum Rock park.

As I rode back to work I saw in the distance the smoke from over the Santa Cruz mountains. My gut just sank as I knew this was a pretty big fire just given the size of the plume. This photo was taken near the south end of the bay near Milpitas. Only for a brief moment did I think this might have been the fog bank rolling in, but upon looking further north where Highway 92 crosses over to Half Moon Bay my initial suspicions were confirmed. No fog up north certainly meant this was a fire in the hills.

Last year soon after the Pine Martin fire near Bonny Doon I rode through that area as part of the Santa Cruz Mountain Challenge ride. That was eerie! Not something I particularly liked doing. Hopefully we're through with serious fires in the local area and things are kept safe around the state. However, that will be tough; a few weeks ago our family went up to Oregon for a week and on the flight I spotted several fires east of Mt. Shasta. Fires look different from the sky, but it still makes my heart sink.