Tuesday, July 5, 2022   Leaving South Lake Tahoe (again)

Slept at Benner Creek Campground outside Chester, CA on the road to Juniper Lake area, which is closed.  The area had been devastated by last summer’s Dixie Fire.  The whole woods is blackened by fire and super silent.  With all the branches gone on the trees, you can see straight through the forest.  A very eerie viewpoint.  Benner Creek campground used to be a Boy Scout Camp–now it’s a free forest service primitive site.  We had been searching for this place but couldn’t find it, until it beckoned to us–a little off-shoot of a road, the only green trees around–it had a large area where long grass had been flattened by a tarp or tent, a really large rock fire ring, and a large stack of pre cut kindling.  It looked like this particular spot had been defended against the fire.  Three beautiful large redwood trees had been saved there.