Ghostly Reminder I

The remains of the first half of the upper trestle in Spring Canyon along the Roaring Camp & Big Trees tourist railway. This trestle was constructed when the railroad was built to spiral the track up the steepest part of the mountain (an 8-9% grade). It spanned across the canyon, and then looped back, up and over itself to get the track up the mountain. The trestle however, was burned in 1976 in a malicious arson attempt aimed at closing down the railroad. That attemt however did not work, as the railroad constructed a series of switchbacks (the train pulls up to a section, backs up another, then goes foreward up another) up the side of the mountain, to replace the trestle. The trestle was coated in creosote, so it burned easily and extremely hot. It flashed back four times in the process of putting out the fire. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means that they extinguished the fire four times, but it was so hot still, that it reignited itself. There was also a tool shed kept at the bottom of the trestle where various tools and other supplies were kept by the railroad; the fire got so hot, that the shed, along with its contents, were completely vaporized. There was no trace it even existed. Interestingly enough though, the fire never killed any of the surrounding Redwood trees. Their natural defenses against fire and heat protected them.