We've had a busy weekend, so I missed this thread until today. Northern California hasn't had much fire trouble at all this year, but we did have one small fire in August in the American River Canyon, just across Interstate 80 from us - about a mile away. We didn't get any smoke, but the planes flew low over our roof, one after another. Although we were told we weren't in danger, the planes were really frightening - a constant drone, all day long.

We got really worried a couple of years ago when there was fire all around us and we had to breathe smoke for two weeks. The damage was vast, and it destroyed some of our favorite places.

I suppose we're not as fire-safe as we should be. One side of our property is on the Interstate 80 frontage road, and we like the fact that our pines and manzanitas block the sound and sight of the freeway - but the pines form a chain from the road to the house. We just can't bring ouselves to cut down those magnificent trees.

But while all this fire was going in southern California, we took a hike to a lake in the Sierra, about 7,000 feet up. We hadn't driven the road to the trailhead since the fire two years ago - the beginning of the road was absolute devastation, a once-beautiful steeing that is now black and barren. We got past the fire damage, and everything was beautiful by the time we got to the trailhead. The fall colors aren't as vivid as what you see in the Eastern U.S., but they still were wonderful. The lake was ringed with low-growing huckleberry oak, which was red, orange, yellow, and green. We found some huge bear droppings near the lake, but no bears. Lots of hunters, along the road driving to the trail, though. I whistled every few hundred yards, to make sure the bears and the hunters knew we were coming. We didn't run into anybody until we were almost back to our car.

We live in an area of breathtaking beauty, so it's worth the fire risk. I sure hope it rains soon, though.

-Joe Offer-