Beauty in Destruction: Malakoff Diggins SHP

In the late 1800s, gold miners  in the Sierra Nevada foothills used giant water cannons to wash away the hillsides and expose the gold.  They left behind badlands, scars that will take centuries to heal.  But after more than a century, life renews itself.  The hillsides in the Diggins, at Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, are still bare, but trees have grown up where they can get a toehold.  Summer brings thunderstorms to the foothills.  Rain has filled the creek that runs through the diggins.  Beauty renews itself.

Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, Nevada County, California.