Big Sur, along California's scenic highway 1, is known for its breathtaking scenery...from rugged coastline to redwood forests.
Recently, the Basin complex fire raged in the Los Padres National Forest near there, and some homes were lost, which is of course an unfortunate and sad event.
But for the forest, burning is a natural process, and, while most of the areas were closed, I was fortunate enough to be able to hike through a portion of the recently-burned area.
While some described it as "depressing, devastated, sad, etc., I didn't see that; in fact it gave me even more respect for the beauty in the balance of nature in this process.
I hope to bring some of that out in these photos, which include both the "classic Big Sur" areas, and the burnt areas.