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Wildfire Destruction along the Pony Express NHT

A man in a burgundy jacket stands in front of large tree that lies across a recreational trail. In the foreground stands a concrete post with markers identifying this as the Pony Express NHT and suitable for various recreational activities.
A concrete post with markers identifying this as the Pony Express NHT and suitable for various recreational activities.

Photo/Jim Swigart

Branches of a fallen, burned tree lie across the Pony Express Trail. In the back ground stand more conifers, browned but with branches intact.
Branches of a fallen, burned tree lie across the Pony Express Trail.

Photo/Jim Swigart

Trail partner Jim Swigart, of the National Pony Express Association (NPEA), hiked out recently to check damage to the Pony Express National Historic Trail (NHT) resulting from last summer’s ferocious Caldor Fire in California. The wildfire burned 221,835 acres, along with some 20 miles of the Pony Express NHT. In addition to trees, the fire destroyed infrastructure, including five bridges used by hikers and the NPEA during their annual re-ride of the trail each summer. The Caldor and other fires last summer incurred similar damage along several routes of the California NHT through California.

Jim took these photos In El Dorado National Forest between Kyburz and Eagle Rock, California, earlier this month. He is consulting with the US Forest Service to figure how out to help restore the trail and replace the burnt structures.

The Caldor fire burned 221,835 acres and cost $271,147,512 to date. Learn more about last summer’s wildfires in the West.

View of browned mountainside with blackened tree trunks without branches standing in the middle ground and a fallen, burned trunk in the foreground. Some Conifers along the horizon are still green.
View of browned mountainside with blackened tree trunks.

Photo/Jim Swigart

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Pony Express National Historic Trail

Last updated: December 21, 2021