The Caldor Fire's Damage to the Pony Express National Historic Trail

The Caldor Fire burned 221,835 acres in California and, at the time of writing, had cost $271,147,512. It also burned about 20 miles of the Pony Express National Historic Trail.

What was lost

• Trees: burned trunks and fallen timber now lie across the trail, and whole mountainsides of conifers stand brown or blackened.
• Bridges: the fire destroyed five bridges used by hikers and by the National Pony Express Association for its annual summer re-ride of the route.
• Other trails: that summer's fires did similar damage along several routes of the California National Historic Trail.

Assessing the damage

Jim Swigart, a trail partner from the National Pony Express Association, hiked the burned section in El Dorado National Forest between Kyburz and Eagle Rock, California, to document the damage. He is working with the U.S. Forest Service on how to restore the trail and replace the burned structures.

Sources

Based on "Wildfire Destruction along the Pony Express NHT," Pony Express National Historic Trail, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The article's photographs, by Jim Swigart of the National Pony Express Association, are not reproduced.