OJAI TREKS

Phoenix Rising from the Ashes
Trekking Through Recovery and Awakening

January 17, 2018
Oso Crest Trail

We started our trek at the crack of dawn, the sun painting pink moments on the burned mountainsides.  Imagine our astonishment at the bleakness, the transparency of everything, the charred bits of past trees dotting the landscape in black piles.  We saw roads and trails we never knew existed, we even thought we were lost at times the topography so changed from the chaparral crests of November.

Our minds were desperate for some signs that all is not lost, that some life remains, will take hold and return. Trudging on, seeing absolutely everything laid before us, the rawness of the slot canyons that will be mudslides and waterfalls when the rain returns, the steepness of the cliffs and the trail barely a deer trail blur on the cliff shoulders, reinforced our view of a new back country that can't camouflage it's nakedness.

But then we started to notice green shoots spearing themselves through the ashes - the yucca plants were returning and growing.

We saw other signs of flora breaking through the burn scars, ant mounds, baby sumac and heard a few bird calls.

Ojai will be like the Phoenix rising through the ashes, always changing.  We look forward to new signs of life on our weekly treks and anticipate that the ash will bring nutrients to the soil and once we get more rain plants will grow rapidly. We have high expectations!

This is the beginning of our blog on our adventures into the new Ojai, we will keep you posted.

Keep on Trekking!

Beth & Laura