(there are stories missing before this that are only on my laptop and will be published with the book). Today is my last day in California and truthfully I don't even want to think about leaving. The people at the hostel have been so incredibly genuine I feel like they are my family now. Plus the idea of eternal surfing and beach bonfires attracts me even more. The hostel has become an environment for lifelong friends that all came here for the same reason. No on...

When I woke up in Death Valley my body was freezing. The night before I had warmed up on chili and some descent beer, but apparently it did not get me through the night. It took nearly an hour to defrost my feet and there was no way I was going to jump in a camp shower. I drove for miles until I came across the Eureka Sand Dunes. This area is famous for the filming of Star Wars. However my reason for wanting to come here was different. Jim Morrison (from "the doo...

My apologies for last night. I wanted to take it easy for a day in the mountains and was going to type about the day, but other things happened. I guess "taking it easy" meant drinking a bunch of Bacardi and trying to roast hot dogs. Well the hot dogs were never were cooked. I made it to my tent and woke up covered in a small layer of ice on my sleeping bag and tent. Also a squirrel ate my hot dog buns. Plus... I acquired some cold or cough through the freezing n...

I accomplished two short hikes today in Joshua Tree. One was the Barker Dam and the other was Wall Street Mill. Nice hikes, but I chose a bad weekend. The park is completely full of people since every national park is free on Martin Luther King weekend... They stumped me because I paid anyways for an entire week. Anyways it was just too crowded for me so I ventured south right at sunset. I am now at 6500 ft and it is snowing in the San Bernardino National Forest....

Well.... I had to divert my route. When I arrived at the backcountry board for twin tanks a guy from Riverside told me a storm was moving in. Seeing as how I had walked 12 miles into the Pinto Basin I was a bit alarmed by the news. In this type of desert all of the rain running off from high ground (mostly granite, not very porous) would eventually cause a massive river to flush down where I was if it was severe enough. The rain in the desert will not recede righ...