Take a look at the picture below. While it isn’t the most amazing image I’ve ever taken, it has a lot of significance.

The hillside in the image (taken October 27. 2016) no longer looks that way. Why? A fire ripped through this part of Yosemite in 2018 and destroyed everything in its path. When I saw the hillside in 2019, all that was left was dirt and charred remains of tree stumps. The hillside had various pine trees, aspens, and dogwood before the fire. I’ll probably never live to see the hillside come back to life the way it looked in the image, but time will tell.

Fires are getting pretty much under control around Yosemite now and I’m getting ready to head up and see the park. Hoping that there isn’t a lot of smoke when I get up there. It looked good this weekend and for the first time in weeks the park’s webcams showed detail of Half Dome and El Capitan…not to mention BLUE SKIES! Keeping my fingers crossed for a great time.

Have a great week everyone!