In an effort to embrace the last days of sunshine before the upcoming, promised snow storm, Jenny and I went mountain biking through the Angora Burn Area. This terrible blaze began on Sunday, June 24, 2007 as a result of an illegal campfire.
The area is visible for miles, but this was the first time I had actually been in the charred 3,072 acres. It was surreal and sad.
We look happy because we survived an arduous path up the mountain side.
The cemetery is a little talked about casualty of the Angora fire that destroyed 254 homes. Disturbing reminders of this terrible event in Tahoe history remain in the form of burnt grave markers and felled, scorched trees.
For as long as many residents can remember, the pet cemetery has been the final resting place for countless pets. No one seems to know for sure how long the cemetery has been around, but one estimate went as high as 55 years. The cemetery is an informal one, started a long time ago under unknown and long-forgotten circumstances, and has grown into a fixture of the surrounding community. It sits on National Forest land, and is technically illegal, although the U.S. Forest Service has not to date made efforts to rid the forest of the cemetery.
In among the old wooden markers, whose identities have been destroyed, we found several replacements and even a couple of new ones. It is evidence that the cemetery is slowly rebuilding and growing, much like the surrounding community... out of the ashes.
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