The early morning of August 16, 2020 was filled with lightning. Repeating lightning strikes all across the sky, rolling thunder again and again: dramatic and exhilarating. Then the fires brought devastation and loss to many. To see the impact of the 2020 fires on Portola Valley, see <
https://capturethelight.zenfolio.com/200819>. (Hint: luckily, hyperlocally, quite survivable.)
The resulting CZU Lightning Complex Fire in August 2020 wreaked historic damage to wide swaths of our California coast, including substantial damage to the redwoods in Big Basin State Park. At Butano State Park to the south, the fire was more muted and kinder. It might be said that the forest here benefited from the low flames, clearing out underbrush. (The human infrastructure will take years to rebuild.)
On the way home from Pebble Beach, we drop into Butano State Park to see for ourselves. Yes, the forest does look healthy. Campgrounds are closed, a lot of reconstruction is still needed.
And check out my experimental semi-blurred photos at the end.
Curious about the meaning of “Butano”, I ask my consuegro Pepe – the father of my daughter-in-law. In Spanish, “butano” means “butane”,
C4H10 , a gas at room temperature and pressure, an alkane in the sequence methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, octane, etc. Google Translate agrees with Pepe. But this seems not to be romantic enough for public use. The San Jose Mercury-News reports:
“The origin of its name is … jumbled. ‘According to some sources, it was the California Indians who gave the name Butano to the region, meaning a gathering place for friendly visits,’ the park’s map notes. ‘Other sources indicate that the name was given by the Spanish, for a word that apparently means a drinking cup made out of a cow horn.’ “ MercuryNews.com, 12/14/2021. Butane works for me. Maybe there were seeps nearby?
