Re: One more day on the Madera Sugar Pine grades....

Wayne;
The incline is on the very edge of the Railroad Fire. Some ares of the fire suffered 100% tree mortality. In other areas the fire left many trees standing. There are many pine needles littering the ground now as many of the dying trees shed their needles this summer and coated the ground.

Here's a view after I climbed back up the railroad grade. We are looking towards the incline:


Here's the view looking away from the incline (to the southeast):

The grade here would have held two tracks: one for outgoing loads and one for incoming empties...

I started hiking down the grade as there are three short spurs and a logging camp located at the top of the incline. About 100 feet later I found this:

I began singing "Lions, Tigers, and BEARS!, Oh My!"

Another 50 feet or so brought me to a thicket of brush:


It looks like the fire had done very little to reduce the brush on the grade. I tried forging through this and after a few feet found myself climbing on top of the brush and in very wobbly footing. At this point I gave up on the idea of trying to hike the grade any further (for now)....

I returned to the top of the incline area to see what artifacts had been left behind...

To be continued...