About halfway back to the car I’m starting to contemplate the abstract possibility that I might not be able to make it all the way there, and trying to calculate whether, if I stopped walking now and sat in the shade of a bush, my water would last until sunset. It’s pretty late in the day, so probably I’d be okay; but I don’t know this desert, or how quickly it cools — and anyway I’m not thinking too clearly at the moment. I see the car in the distance — it looks about as far as across a very large parking lot. I’m seriously dizzy now, tripping over rocks and at one point kicking through a cholla cactus. I swallow the last of my water. It tastes hotter than the surrounding air. When I finally reach the car I have to sit for at least a half hour with the A/C on full blast, guzzling water, chewing ice chips from the cooler I bought in Baker, rubbing them on my body, chewing them some more, tasting salt and suntan lotion. So, yeah. That was very stupid. Pretty much the classic overconfident solo hiker getting himself in trouble. From now on I’m carrying more water and sticking to the marked trails.
Beautiful, beautiful pictures. If you don’t kill yourself out there your mother will probably do it for you herself when she gets her hands on you! Love you, Dad.
And if your mother isn’t up to the job, I’ll do it.
I would seriously not forgive you if you managed to die in such a stupid way.
Honestly, pretty pictures, but please come home.
-Emily
You’re both right, I know. I really would have been fine, even in the worst case — it cooled dramatically only an hour or so after the hike — but the fact that I was unsure about that for a while was really sobering. Lesson learned.
I’ve left the low desert, decided to skip Death Valley. It’s much, much cooler here (headed to the grand canyon today, because you can’t skip the grand canyon).
What about that nice dirt road that goes to the Dunes about a mile south of Kelso Station? And, why not a picture of Kelso Station and a little bit about the history there?
But, I digress.
Beautiful photos of some of my favorite roads in America: The Twentynine Palms to Amboy to Kelso to Baker road is beautiful. ( I suggest a short trip to the tiny “town” of Nipton).
Also, that is US 60 that passes the Very Large Array. Long, straight, beautiful driving, all by yourself.
What about that nice dirt road that goes to the Dunes about a mile south of Kelso Station?
Well… yeah. Found that a bit later.