I've been reading Rebecca Solnit's A Paradise Built in Hell, and the spirit of that book became very real as I took my first two hikes into the ashen earth left behind by last summer's wildfires that devastated so much of Plumas County. The first three photos here were taken on the first day of Spring on a hillside about Frenchman Lake. The fire did such a thorough job of eliminating underbrush that it was easy for Greg and me to walk into the area without trails. We were in the vicinity of 6,000 feet of altitude and saw mostly dead trees. Despite the incredible views of Dixie Mountain and mountains southward towards Babbitt Peak, I reverted to my well-developed habit of looking at the ground. It paid off when I started spotting flowers blooming. These three reminded me of Buttercups or Anemones, but I still haven't identified them.
A week earlier, we hiked around on an ashen slope above Oakland Camp near Quincy. At around 4,000 feet we saw the first of several species of yellow violets that populate this area. This one appears to be Viola purpurea, or the Mountain Violet. Then nearby we spotted the early leaves of what will be the next yellow species to bloom, Viola sheltonii, or the Fan Violet. On a sunny, south-facing slope, they are taking up sunlight all day long and blooming ahead of their kind down around Quincy 1,000 feet below.
While the Dixie Fire was burning, it seemed like Hell, but soon there will be a paradise of blooming wildflowers as the mountains and nearby communities begin their slow recovery.
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