[pct-l] desert camping

[canoeman at qnet.com]

For those of you who are not looking forward to the desert section of the PCT,
or just consider it a section to get through as quick as you can to get to the
pretty mountains, consider winter hiking in the desert.
the weather is perfect, no oppressive heat, and when your not overwhelmed by the
crippling triple digit heat in may, the winter offers stunning, beautiful
scenery, and often vast areas of wilderness, no other humans.
This time of year I spend  my weekends when I can, in the death valley, eastern
Mojave desert area.
It grows on you when your hiking along ridges and ravines and come on hidden
micro oasis's.
I find the desert in the winter to be incredibly beautiful.
Try it for working out backpacking equipment choices, and for a refreshing
change from crowded,  tree forested, over-policed, cattle trails  and
over-rangered  areas around Socal.
Plus most of the areas on BLM land you can camp where ever you want, no permits,
no rules except the very basic common sense and care for the environment we all
share.
Most folk see the desert from the car window at 75 miles an hour.A lot of people
would be shocked at how pretty the scenery, and addictive winter desert
camping/hiking can be, Once you walk away from your car.
Trees are nice, but the desert is captivating.
Plus .........no mosquitos...............

Canoeman


he said

You might want to take a look at the Santa Monica Mountains:
> http://www.nps.gov/samo/index.htm.
>
> Almost always good weather. Steep ravines, City and ocean views. There is
> the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monicas which you could research online.
> And there is public transportation to some of the trailheads.