Scorched Earth, Part II

A little over a year ago the mountain by my house caught on fire, and I was really upset about it - because it was most likely caused by illegal fireworks. At the time I wrote a post here about it, and included a couple of pictures. I hated seeing the burned landscape when I went hiking in the foothills, and promised I would write about Nature's comeback effort at a later date. Well, today is that date - and this is my update on the scorched landscape. While I was angry that the area was burned last year, I figured that Nature would take its course and come back greener over the next few years. I know this because that wasn't the first time a fire has ravaged the area by my house. The previous two fires left behind some nasty, sooty areas too, and they eventually re-greened and now look normal. Summer time here in the Mountain West of the USA has come to mean intensely hot and dry days, and that inevitably leads to lots of wildfires during July and August. This year is no different,…