Drive up into the foothills east of Redding, past the last gas station with cell service, and you’ll see them – empty lots where houses used to stand, driveways that lead to nothing but a chimney and a mailbox. Some of those lots have been empty since 2018. Not because the owners gave up. Because nobody would insure what they wanted to rebuild.
For most of the last decade, that’s been the story of wildfire country in California. Homeowners with clean records and defensible space, dropped anyway. Whole zip codes redlined by carriers who decided the math no longer worked. And a question that’s followed every one of those empty lots: will the private insurance market ever come back, or is California stuck propping up its own backcountry forever?
Summer’s here, the hills are dry, and the Angeles National Forest just elevated fire danger to HIGH. Effective June 12, 2026, a new forest order is in place covering the entire Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, running through December 31, 2026.
It’s that time of year again. If you’ve been following along here, you know I love nothing more than loading up the rig and heading out to some of California’s wide-open BLM lands — but with the dry conditions we’re seeing across the state, the Bureau of Land Management has been rolling out seasonal fire restrictions one field office at a time. So before you plan your next trip, let’s run through what’s changed and where.
I’ve hiked the Sam Merrill Trail more times than I can count. Echo Mountain. Mount Lowe. The old incline railway grade that reminds you California used to dream bigger than it does now. These aren’t just trails to me – they’re places I’ve carried memories into and brought new ones out of every single time.
California State Parks’ Program, Coordinated with CalFire — Recent Operations Focused in the Santa Cruz Mountains