And finally...

Ok, I saved the beautiful ones for last.

I took a walk down a dirt path through the woods to see how far back the fire went. The path was grass, pine needles and leaves over sandy dirt, bordered on either side by what looked like black carpet. The fire had gone through both sides, but hadn't destroyed everything. The brush was still thick and pretty green. Blackened ground came right to the edge of the untouched path. Farther down I could see a strip about two feet wide where the fire had crossed over, but as far as I could see it was the only spot where the path was burned.

I followed the trail down until the burned ground met in a perfect triangle where another trail came in. It was the end of the line. The aftermath of nature's precision was impressive; quiet and peaceful and clean.