After I visited my horses yesterday and I was driving back down the mountain toward the desert, I pulled off at an overlook which used to be an Indian site. There are trails and handrails for people to look far down into Deep Canyon. A lot of people pull off there and take walks. I had my camera out and was ready to take photos of the pinyon trees. Unfortunately, when I got out of my car, I stumbled upon a fire ring! YES! In our mountains!!! Not only is that illegal, but with our Santa Ana winds yesterday, it could have been a disaster had somebody actually lit it. The rocks were neatly in a circle and there was dried grass on the bottom, then small branches, and then a large juniper branch on top. I was so upset that I destroyed it and tossed everything away and drove to the nearest ranger station to report it. They were concerned, too. I'm not sure if somebody was planning on coming back last night, but it looked ready to go. And, with our dry, hot winds...well, I shudder to think what might have happened. Additionally, they cut down two agave blooms (again, an illegal act)! This was NOT in a campground, mind you, but near a parking lot of an overlook. There are NO camping facilities nearby, and campfires are NOT allowed in the national forest. There are plenty of signs to that effect! I've stopped at that overlook many times and I've NEVER seen anything like that fire ring. I was scared. That is strictly forbidden! What kind of an IDIOT would do such a thing? Now, tell me, does THIS look like country where you would have an open fire pit? I think not. There is a campground further up the road, next to the fire station, and it is heavily patrolled. This area suffered from a fire about 15 years ago and residents are constantly on the lookout for fires and they have very strict yard requirements, so who would do such a thing???? I simply cannot believe what I found.
