wildfire
we returned to bastrop state park a mere five months after our first visit and the regrowth is amazing and abundant. even in the heat of the texas summer new growth is flourishing and flora is beginning to carpet the ground. although the park is slowly making a come back, the charred loblolly pines standing tall above the forest floor still serve as a stark reminder of the devastation that occurred during the wildfire of two thousand and eleven.
rollin' down the highway headed to our new home in austin smoke filled the evening sky, offering an oddly beautiful sunset tinged with sadness and destruction. helicopters in the sky, firetrucks lining the backroads, make shift churches set up offering some respite for those battling the blazes, these were our first images of texas. it was labor day weekend of 2011 and while we were ready to start our new life in austin the worst wildfire in the states history was raging a few towns over. the hardest hit was bastrop and for the first time since moving to texas we went to the state park there this past weekend. a year and a half later the damage caused by the fires is still very real and very evident.
