Inside wildfire-destroyed the Big Basin State Park in California

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BOULDER CREEK – The headquarters of Big Basin Redwoods State Park have all been burned to the ground, but the vast majority of the park’s famous old giant redwoods are still erected – although many no longer stand just as tall, two journalists from this news organization confirmed Thursday.

It took a nearly five-mile hike through the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains to reach what was left of California’s oldest state park, after the CZU Lightning Complex wildfire. They found scattered giants scattered among the tall trees. One, found just in front of the headquarters and with a base more than a dozen feet across, had burned and broken, sending the massive hull to the ground, where it lay in a deathbed of ash and black undergrowth.

Read about how the fireworks destroyed the historic buildings at Big Basin, and what redwoods perished

Other redwoods still standing upright were burning at the base, fire was rising in their trunks, and these trees seemed to be falling down.

Nearly all of Big Basin’s iconic redwood trees were burned, and although many escaped the blaze with foliage intact, dozens were lit near the park center until the crown and its tops were burned or broken.

Around the headquarters and nearby campgrounds, where happy shouts of thrilling visitors usually emerge on a summer afternoon, and the jays of Stellar squawk loudly, overcome by silence, sometimes interrupted by the sound of a forest of titan striking earth with the sound of a bomb coming out. A single crow flew quietly through the destruction.

The memorable rich and earthy scent of the park was replaced by crooked wood chips from many smoldering fires.