I haven’t been on the Blue Ridge Loop at the Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve in a couple of years, and I wanted to check it out again, so I hiked it last weekend. In 2020, in the LNU Lightning Complex fires, the entire area was ravaged, and where there was once some canopy, now there is none. In hiking the whole area, you are exposed on all the trails around. The day I hiked it, the temperature was in the low 60s when we started, and it was just plain hot because there was little wind and no shading.
I could not get over how barren the landscape was. When I first hiked this trail in 2015, there was ground growth all over and trees were plentiful. Later that summer, a fire burned the area, and some of the trees were burned out. Now, after last year’s fire, most of the chaparral was burned out, and from where I stood on the ridge I climbed up on and looked southerly, I could see what looked like Annie’s Trail in the distance where in the past it was shrouded in canopy and no way to see it or even know where it was. The memories of the hills and vegetation are all that are left. I wonder if there are plans to reintroduce native trees into the area?
A lot of restoration work has been done on the trails, and it shows. I’ve seen places where the trail was in need of repair prior to the fire, and it looks like work has been done in those spots. There are still parts under repair as I write this, and the full trail is not open. It looks like work is being done on the steps that connect Cold Canyon to the Blue Ridge Loop. The views of Lake Berryessa are there, as are views back to the Sacramento Valley. Still, there’s something missing that won’t be replaced in my lifetime, and I was fortunate enough to hike this area multiple times while it was still lively with trees and plants. It will be interesting to return periodically to see how some of the growth is coming back. I look forward to hiking Cold Canyon in the spring to see if some of the wildflowers have started to regrow.
If you do decide to hike this area, take plenty of water. The constant exposure will make it hot.