California

Groveland, Calif., rises from the ashes

Peggy Mosley, 79, owner of the Groveland Hotel, stands on the porch overlooking California 120. The vacancy sign has been lit since the Rim wildfire burned to the edge of town and dried up her business. The tragedy was preceded by the death of her husband of 55 years just as the Rim fire started raging out of control in August 2013. Then the federal government shutdown kept nearby Yosemite National Park closed, robbing her of the tourists she and the Gold Rush-era town thrive on.

Peggy Mosley, 79, owner of the Groveland Hotel, stands on the porch overlooking California 120. The vacancy sign has been lit since the Rim wildfire burned to the edge of town and dried up her business. The tragedy was preceded by the death of her husband of 55 years just as the Rim fire started raging out of control in August 2013. Then the federal government shutdown kept nearby Yosemite National Park closed, robbing her of the tourists she and the Gold Rush-era town thrive on.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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The Rim fire, California’s third-largest on record, raged for two months. It burned 257,314 acres of the Sierra Nevada range, including 10% of Yosemite National Park, the draw that brings people through Groveland on California 120. Soon after the smoke cleared, the federal government shut down, closing Yosemite for weeks during a balmy, blue-skied autumn. Then, two weeks after the shutdown ended, the snows came and closed the Sierra passes for the season. In the isolated quiet, there were transformations, large and small.

Groveland, Calif.

A truck loaded with fire-blackened logs moves along California 120 through Groveland, Calif., on Dec. 19, 2013. The Rim fire ravaged 257,314 acres around Groveland earlier in the year. One logging crew reported that dead trees on private property are being salvaged and shipped to China for use as concrete forms.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Groveland, Calif.

Dharma Barsotti stands in what used to be the base of a 1,000-year-old oak tree that towered over his family’s old home on the Spinning Wheel ranch near Groveland, Calif. In mid-August 2013, the Rim fire incinerated the 1920s-era building, leaving only the fireplace. Barsotti is rebuilding but the fire ruined his once-thriving resort business.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Groveland, Calif.

Dharma Barsotti’s marble carving, “Tuolumne Man,” was somehow spared when the Rim fire swept over the Spinning Wheel ranch in August 2013. California’s third-largest wildfire destroyed two guest houses and hundreds of trees on the resort, in addition to 257,314 acres of the Stanislaus National Forest.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Groveland, Calif.

Charred conifer trees that were cut for salvage lie scattered along Evergreen Road in Groveland, Calif., on Dec. 19, 2013.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Groveland, Calif.

A logging crew working along Harden Flat Road in Groveland, Calif., said that these fire-blackened pines will be trucked to the Port of Stockton and shipped to China for use as concrete forms. The Rim wildfire burned for nine weeks through more than 250,000 acres of forest in 2013.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Groveland, Calif.

Rick Martinez, a Caltrans worker, sits at the bar of the Iron Door Saloon in Groveland, Calif., on Dec. 19, 2013. Martinez says he worked 14-hour days to keep California 120 open for firefighters during the massive Rim wildfire that burned from August to October 2013.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Groveland, Calif.

On a chilly December night, a patron takes a smoke break outside the Iron Door Saloon in Groveland, Calif. It’s Karaoke Night at the 118-year-old landmark but the saloon is all but empty of locals. “I think everyone is just feeling a little whipped,” said bartender Johnny Owens.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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