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Fire destroys Little Basin, a beloved Silicon Valley landmarkSkip to content
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: The visitor center at Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park, sits in ruins, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after being destroyed by the CZU Complex fire burning near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: The Little Basin sign at the campground in Big Basin State Park shows scorch marks, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, from the CZU Complex fire burning near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: A scorched redwood stands in the foreground of the destroyed Recreation Building at Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after being destroyed by the CZU Complex fire, near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: The Recreation Building at Little Basin Campground sits in ruins in Big Basin State Park, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after being destroyed by the CZU Complex fire, near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: The Recreation Building at Little Basin Campground sits in ruins in Big Basin State Park, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after being destroyed by the CZU Complex fire, near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: The Recreation Building at Little Basin Campground sits in ruins in Big Basin State Park, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after being destroyed by the CZU Complex fire, near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: Tim Hyland, an environmental scientist for the California State Parks, visits Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park to assess the damage from the CZU Complex fire, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: A singed animals walks through a picnic area in the Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park on Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, an apparent victim of the CZU Complex fire near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: The remains of a piano sit in the ashes of a recreation building, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, that was destroyed at Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park by the CZU Complex fire, near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: The baseball field at Little Basin Campground sits amongst the scorched trees of Big Basin State Park, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after being destroyed by the CZU Complex fire, near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: A stand of scorched redwoods rises up from a meadow in Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after being burned during the CZU Complex fire near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: A stand of scorched redwoods rises up from a meadow in Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after being burned during the CZU Complex fire near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: A building at Little Basin Campground, a 2011addition to the Big Basin State Park, is reduced to ashes, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after being destroyed in the CZU Complex fire near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: Madrone branches stand out against the darkened landscape, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after the CZU Complex fire burned through Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park, near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: Madrone branches stand in contrast to scarred redwoods at Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after the CZU Complex fire in Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOULDER CREEK, CA - AUGUST 26: The road into Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park is blocked by fallen trees and a burnt truck, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, following the devastating CZU Complex fire, near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Visitors tour Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County Thursday Jan. 13, 2011. It has 36 campsites, 14 cabins, a fishing lake, softball field and dunking booth. But until now, it has only been open to Hewlett Packard employees and retirees. Now, the public will finally get a chance to enjoy it too. On Jan. 14, after negotiations that will require the environmental groups to put up money to hire state park rangers, the state parks department is scheduled to take title and add it to Big Basin State Park. (Photo by Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
2011: Audrey Rust, president of Peninsula Open Space Trust, tours Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County.
Salamander crossing a road at Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County Thursday Jan. 13, 2011.
LITTLE BASIN — In simpler times, families slept in cabins here. They roasted marshmallows under the stars, bobbed for apples and shared in the camaraderie of each other’s company, brought together by one of Silicon Valley’s pioneering companies.
But now Little Basin is a blackened landscape of twisted metal, charred redwood trees and piles of ash.
The 535-acre property eight miles west of Boulder Creek near Big Basin Redwoods State Park was destroyed by the wildfires that have devastated the Santa Cruz Mountains over the past two weeks.
The property was purchased by legendary Hewlett Packard co-founders William Hewlett and David Packard in 1963 as a retreat for their employees. A source of countless memories over the 44 years that followed, Little Basin became the summer camp of the storied “HP Way” of early Silicon Valley, where company picnics, camp outs and jamborees led employees to feel they were as much a part of a family as workers in a corporation.
“We had some great times up there as a family,” said Gary Ruppel, 79, of Palo Alto. “I remember Bill and Dave vividly. They really loved to serve steaks and hamburgers off the grill. They never got tired. They would keep serving until there was nobody in line. They played softball with us. They sat in the dunking booth.”
Packard’s daughter, Julie, the executive director of the Monterey Aquarium, remembers the timeless landscape.
“I went up there with my dad for company events a few times,” she said. “It was a beautiful setting in the redwoods, cool and restful. The kids would hunt for pennies in a big pile of sawdust for fun. My biggest memory was a huge stand of native Western Azaleas blooming in the picnic area when we went up there. The aroma knocked you out.”
After David Packard died at age 83 in 1996, Hewlett followed at age 87 five years later, and the company merged with Compaq, a Texas-based computer maker. The new HP put Little Basin up for sale. Two environmental groups, the Peninsula Open Space Trust in Palo Alto and the Sempervirens Fund in Los Altos, bought the land for a bargain price of $4 million. They created a fund to upgrade its facilities and sold the property to the state parks department in 2011.
It was added to Big Basin state park, connected along a 2-mile trail and opened to the public. Over the past decade, a new generation of families experienced its rustic charms.
But Little Basin’s 38 tent spaces and 12 wood cabins — built by Hewlett Packard employees in the 1960s — are gone now, lost to the blaze known as the CZU Lightning Complex. So were the recreation hall, the camp headquarters, dining pavilion, restrooms and amphitheater.
Little Basin before the fire: Visitors tour Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County Thursday Jan. 13, 2011. (Photo by Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Visitors tour Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County Thursday Jan. 13, 2011. It has 36 campsites, 14 cabins, a fishing lake, softball field and dunking booth. But until now, it has only been open to Hewlett Packard employees and retirees. Now, the public will finally get a chance to enjoy it too. On Jan. 14, after negotiations that will require the environmental groups to put up money to hire state park rangers, the state parks department is scheduled to take title and add it to Big Basin State Park. (Photo by Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Someone carved the company's initials in a redwood stump at Hewlett-Packard's private property in the Santa Cruz Mountains Friday May 25, 2007. The company has decided to sell their 534-acre Little Basin property, which sits adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The land, which includes campsites, tennis courts, a fishing hole and playgrounds will be purchased by two land trusts, Sempervirens Fund and the Peninsula Open Space Trust, for $4 million and added to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Caretaker Justin Lane mows near a baseball field on Hewlett-Packard's private property in the Santa Cruz Mountains Friday May 25, 2007. The company has decided to sell their 534-acre Little Basin property, which sits adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The land, which includes campsites, tennis courts, a fishing hole and playgrounds will be purchased by two land trusts, Sempervirens Fund and the Peninsula Open Space Trust, for $4 million and added to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
A playground on Hewlett-Packard's private property in the Santa Cruz Mountains Friday May 25, 2007. The company has decided to sell their 534-acre Little Basin property, which sits adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The land, which includes campsites, tennis courts, a fishing hole and playgrounds will be purchased by two land trusts, Sempervirens Fund and the Peninsula Open Space Trust, for $4 million and added to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Hewlett-Packard manager Joe Giarrusso in front of a stage featuring a backdrop made to look like the founders' famous garage on HP's private property in the Santa Cruz Mountains Friday May 25, 2007. The company has decided to sell their 534-acre Little Basin property, which sits adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The land, which includes campsites, tennis courts, a fishing hole and playgrounds will be purchased by two land trusts, Sempervirens Fund and the Peninsula Open Space Trust, for $4 million and added to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Shannon Rose McEntee, development director of the Sempervirens Fund, takes a spin on playground equipment while touring Hewlett-Packard's private property in the Santa Cruz Mountains Friday May 25, 2007. The company has decided to sell their 534-acre Little Basin property, which sits adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The land, which includes campsites, tennis courts, a fishing hole and playgrounds will be purchased by two land trusts, Sempervirens Fund and the Peninsula Open Space Trust, for $4 million and added to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Hewlett-Packard's private property in the Santa Cruz Mountains Friday May 25, 2007. The company has decided to sell their 534-acre Little Basin property, which sits adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The land, which includes campsites, tennis courts, a fishing hole and playgrounds will be purchased by two land trusts, Sempervirens Fund and the Peninsula Open Space Trust, for $4 million and added to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Land trust officials tour a picnic area on Hewlett-Packard's private property in the Santa Cruz Mountains Friday May 25, 2007. The company has decided to sell their 534-acre Little Basin property, which sits adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The land, which includes campsites, tennis courts, a fishing hole and playgrounds will be purchased by two land trusts, Sempervirens Fund and the Peninsula Open Space Trust, for $4 million and added to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Walter Moore, executive vice president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, tours a pond on Hewlett-Packard's private property in the Santa Cruz Mountains Friday May 25, 2007. The company has decided to sell their 534-acre Little Basin property, which sits adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The land, which includes campsites, tennis courts, a fishing hole and playgrounds will be purchased by two land trusts, Sempervirens Fund and the Peninsula Open Space Trust, for $4 million and added to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Reeds growing in a fishing pond at Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County Thursday Jan. 13, 2011. It has 36 campsites, 14 cabins, a fishing lake, softball field and dunking booth. But until now, it has only been open to Hewlett Packard employees and retirees. Now, the public will finally get a chance to enjoy it too. On Jan. 14, after negotiations that will require the environmental groups to put up money to hire state park rangers, the state parks department is scheduled to take title and add it to Big Basin State Park. (Photo by Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Bloom on a Manzanita shrub at Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County Thursday Jan. 13, 2011. It has 36 campsites, 14 cabins, a fishing lake, softball field and dunking booth. But until now, it has only been open to Hewlett Packard employees and retirees. Now, the public will finally get a chance to enjoy it too. On Jan. 14, after negotiations that will require the environmental groups to put up money to hire state park rangers, the state parks department is scheduled to take title and add it to Big Basin State Park. (Photo by Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Reed Holderman, executive director of the Sempervirens Fund, tours Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County Thursday Jan. 13, 2011. It has 36 campsites, 14 cabins, a fishing lake, softball field and dunking booth. But until now, it has only been open to Hewlett Packard employees and retirees. Now, the public will finally get a chance to enjoy it too. On Jan. 14, after negotiations that will require the environmental groups to put up money to hire state park rangers, the state parks department is scheduled to take title and add it to Big Basin State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Salamander crossing a road at Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Visitors tour Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Sign at Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County. It has 36 campsites, 14 cabins, a fishing lake, softball field and dunking booth. But until now, it has only been open to Hewlett Packard employees and retirees. Now, the public will finally get a chance to enjoy it too. On Jan. 14, after negotiations that will require the environmental groups to put up money to hire state park rangers, the state parks department is scheduled to take title and add it to Big Basin State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
From left, Paul Ringgold, director of Land Stewardship for the Peninsula Open Space Trust, Katie Ferrante of Sempervirens Fund, Audrey Rust, president of Peninsula Open Space Trust, and Reed Holderman, executive director of the Sempervirens Fund, tour a fishing pond at Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. It has 36 campsites, 14 cabins, a fishing lake, softball field and dunking booth. But until now, it has only been open to Hewlett Packard employees and retirees. Now, the public will finally get a chance to enjoy it too. On Jan. 14, after negotiations that will require the environmental groups to put up money to hire state park rangers, the state parks department is scheduled to take title and add it to Big Basin State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
Audrey Rust, president of Peninsula Open Space Trust, tours Little Basin, a 534-acre expanse of redwood forests adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County Thursday Jan. 13, 2011. It has 36 campsites, 14 cabins, a fishing lake, softball field and dunking booth. But until now, it has only been open to Hewlett Packard employees and retirees. Now, the public will finally get a chance to enjoy it too. On Jan. 14, after negotiations that will require the environmental groups to put up money to hire state park rangers, the state parks department is scheduled to take title and add it to Big Basin State Park. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
“Everything got evacuated last Tuesday. Our campground was full,” said Donna Doran, vice president for Basecamp Hospitality, the Red Bluff company that operates Little Basin’s campground. “You couldn’t see flames, but there was a lot of smoke. The rangers from Big Basin told people to get out fast.”
A Bay Area News Group reporter and photographer who hiked Wednesday afternoon into the blackened area off State Route 236 past fallen trees, burned cars, ruined homes and downed power lines saw a near-complete loss.
Of Little Basin’s buildings, which included a maintenance center where the husks of small tractors and riding mowers lay amid the rubble, nothing was left standing but the broad, tall brick chimney of the recreation hall. Every cabin burned to the ground.
The big redwood trees around the ruins of the recreation hall — its wreckage full of blistered and bent metal picnic tables — were particularly hard hit, completely blackened, with their foliage torched to the crowns.
Somehow, in the middle of a wide field, an unburned American flag flew atop a metal flag pole. But across the field, a fire-blasted giant redwood was missing its top 20 feet, a similar fate suffered by many of the huge redwoods near Big Basin park headquarters a few miles downhill. At the edge of a field, a singed fox limped away upon catching sight of people. One Stellar’s jay flew from tree to tree. But for the most part, Little Basin’s diverse wildlife was absent.
While the forest in and around the camp presented a picture of blackened, ashy desolation, a few patches escaped the flames. The fenced softball field was undamaged, its grass still green. A sand volleyball court appeared pristine, except for the melted net hanging across it. Also undamaged was the boulder near the mess hall that contains the ground-out depressions left by the region’s first inhabitants, the Ohlone, who pulverized oak acorns here to make flour and meal.
California State Parks environmental scientist Tim Hyland said Wednesday evening as he left the area that the camp’s fiery demise is a “human tragedy,” but the forest will likely end up better off. Even most of the deeply charred redwoods should survive, he said, with all but the smallest capable of withstanding a fire that in Little Basin appeared to be “pretty intense.”
The redwoods, the oaks, the madrones, manzanita and ceanothus shrubs with their aromatic purple-blue blossoms all will benefit, Hyland said.
“The forest is adjusted to fire,” he said. “And high-intensity fire is nothing that it hasn’t seen before. The forest will be back.”
When, or if, the cabins and other lost buildings will return is unknown. Doran said company officials still have not seen the extent of the damage, but expect the worst.
“We’re heartsick about the history that’s been lost,” she said. “We believe most of the redwoods will survive. But we’re all ready to take the challenge and rebuild. It will never be what it was, but maybe it can be better.”
BOULDER CREEK, CA – AUGUST 26: A stand of scorched redwoods rises up from a meadow in Little Basin Campground in Big Basin State Park, Wednesday, Aug., 26, 2020, after being burned during the CZU Complex fire near Boulder Creek, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group
While the forest in and around the camp presented a picture of blackened, ashy desolation, a few patches escaped the flames. The fenced softball field was undamaged, its grass still green. A sand volleyball court appeared pristine, except for the melted net hanging across it. Also undamaged was the boulder near the mess hall that contains the ground-out depressions left by the region’s first inhabitants, the Ohlone, who pulverized oak acorns here to make flour and meal.
