The hottest day so far. Tempted by a nearby restaurant, and a one-day shortage of food in the packs, we wander a mile down the Palms-to-Pines hiway at the end of the day after stashing our packs. Then we leave the closed restaurant behind for the nearby town of Anza in a Native American’s Nissan.…

Orange smoke in the sky – there’s a forest fire nearby. Copters keep swooping over to snuff it. It didn’t take long to get back into desert hills, there’s trees around but its still dry. Actually, the terrain is the strangest mix of mountain and desert I’ve seen. The smoke and the potential it holds…

We walk the eight miles of grassy fields and poppies to the golf course known as Warner Springs. Tra la la. What the hell is a golf course doing by itself out here? Well there’s grass isn’t there? Can’t get our package cause it’s Sunday, so we’re stuck here with the golfers and their servants…

After a long, long day of contouring through the dry San Felipe hills, we pull into paradise. At last, cottonwoods, grass, fresh water. And singing cowboys. No place is perfect. We wash up, sink into bliss.

The problems we face now bear no resemblence to any we’ve ever faced. Carrying heavy water punishes the feet, brings exhaustion. Running out of water causes not only painful thirst, but also alters perception. We have to filter 38 miles worth of water from a spring choked with poison oak. Then we misread the map,…

The sense of adventure really starts to set in when we pick up our first small resupply box in Laguna Mountain. A cold, windy, foggy morning. We take turns getting warm by the heat lamp in the bathroom. We know we need extra water for the near waterless Anza Borrego trail ahead, but the hills,…

I lost my phone and address list as well. We are at about 6000 ft. in a beautiful, but chilly, meadow adorned with green grass and large pines. This evening I laid back and watched clouds whip across a nearby hill and dissipate through the tree tops. It is a very peaceful life so far.…

It’s like we parachuted onto a different planet. We’ve spent a long time preparing for this, but we aren’t prepared. All we can do is walk. It doesn’t take long before we have the map & compass out. We’re crawling through chemise, getting scratched and gouged, learning navigation the hard way. Finally we find the…