Had planned on some camping this August, but the air is so unhealthful that it's better to stay inside.  I think I'll go back to Cartagena for a bit longer.  it's hot there but it's been raining, so no fires.

I had the experience of living through the Oakland CA hills fire in 1991.  Over 3200 dwellings were destroyed.  The fire, like the Carr fire, created a its own weather and firestorm.  It was so hot it dehydrated concrete and turned foundations of homes to powder.  These wild fires are immensely destructive and it takes generations to recover because the dirt is burned leaving no organic material in the soil to support vegetation.  

Sadly, the western states are going to be experiencing more and more such fires as global warming continues and long term drought becomes firmly established.  Even in my lifetime, I've seen tremendous changes in the Sierra snow pack and the disappearance of glaciers that used to be well south of Mt. Whitney; Palisades glacier for one, has all but disappeared.  As the fires burn up existing forests, insufficient precipitation ensures that what eventually will come back will be vegetation much more like the far south end of California, with explosive manzanita brush and such.  Camping in the west is significantly changing.

California is a pretty big state. Huge rural areas.