Burned and Disappearing, Upper Pontatoc Canyon Trail – 3/5/2016

A Yucca transformed by fire on the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. March 2016.
A Yucca transformed by fire on the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. March 2016.

The upper section of the Pontatoc Canyon Trail – above the last crossing of Pontatoc Canyon at ~2.1 miles – has been faint/overgrown in some places for years – but the Finger Rock Fire has made it even more obscure.

Not long after the last canyon crossing you enter the burn – not everything is scorched, but the fire was not subtle.

Burned Yuccas lay among flowers and stand in strange and unexpected shapes. Short stretches of the trail are still identifiable – but it would have been difficult to link those sections together without help from occasional cairns. At least for now it seems the upper section of the trail has almost been erased – perhaps in another few seasons the sturdy ‘End of Trail’ sign, still standing in the canyon bottom, will be a puzzling and obscure landmark…

Fire and flowers along the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. March 2016.
Fire and flowers along the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. March 2016.
A fallen burnt Yucca along the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. March 2016.
A fallen burnt Yucca along the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. March 2016.
A fire formed black pod along the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. March 2016.
A fire formed black pod along the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. March 2016.