The Loop of Thoughts

 

This little poem has a kind of looping theme to it.

Big Basin 2026

 Back in August of 2020, there was a large fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains called the CZU Lightning Complex Fire. The fire took out a large part of Big Basin State Park. The main Headquarters, the museum, the visitor center, and much more all burned down to the ground.

I originally had ambitions to bike from my house all the way to the park headquarters and back about mid-July. But after doing what I considered a few training rides, I reassessed my abilities and pulled back on my ambitions. 

Even as recently as my 50s and early 60s, I could do a ride like this. Admittedly, it took me longer than when I was in my 20s to 30s. But I could still bite off a ride like this and complete it in a reasonable amount of time.

However, I am now in my 70s. Just grinding my way up to Saratoga Gap is now what I would consider a long-distance goal. Back in my late 30s, I would ride up to Skyline and down Page Mill just to get to work at Stanford Hospital. Of course, that would be on the day when I long did the second half of the day shift.

On that day, I would stop at Horseshoe Lake and eat my lunch. Then fly down Page Mill Road to Junipero Serra and then to the hospital. Change clothes in the restroom and begin my day.

That was then, and this is now. So on Wednesday, Janet and I drove to Big Basin Park. Along the way, we stopped a few times so I could take some images. Then, when we reached the main part of the park, we got out and walked a few of the trails.

These images are what I thought captured the day. I DID download a couple of images of what the park looked like before the fire for comparison. I've pointed out those images in this posting.

On our way into the park, we stopped a few times so that I could capture some images of how the park now appears.

Everywhere we looked, we could see clear evidence of the ravages of the flames.

We parked in a lot that is across from where the original park headquarters used to be. This is an image I found online that displayed the original headquarters before the CZU fire. In this image, you can see some steps leading up to the patio area on the right side of this image.

These are those same steps today. The original park headquarters are now completely gone. However, the memories and digital images remain. 

After checking out what used to be the park headquarters, we wandered around to check out some short trails.

In this online image of the amphitheater, you can see a fallen tree to the right of the main stage area.

Here is that same fallen tree today. The entire stage is now gone.

Here is a view looking toward the seating area of the amphitheater. 

That's Janet off to the center right in the background.

After visiting the amphitheater, we wandered off to follow a few more trails. We spent a lot of time just looking up at the tall trees.

I'm not sure what is going on with the bark on this tree, but it looked interesting.

For these tall giants, years pass by them the way weeks pass by for us.

These large rocks seemed to be a magnet for people to etch in their initials. These rocks have probably been here for decades.

To me, it appeared as though the Oak tree was trying to reach over to hug and give some comfort to the young evergreen tree.