PREFACE 



THAT appetite comes by eating I have found to 

 be as true in the matter of geography as in the 

 affairs of the table. After long wanderings among the 

 incomparable forests and mountains and by the ro- 

 mantic shores of the most scenic and diversified of 

 our States, I fell an easy prey to the beckonings of 

 the other principal feature of California's topog- 

 raphy, the dreamy, dreary desert. Long ago, on 

 short expeditions into and across it at various points, 

 I had fallen under its inexplicable charm; now I 

 determined to know it more closely, by daily and 

 nightly intercourse through months of travel in its 

 sun-blasted solitudes: gaining the experience I de- 

 sired at the price, certainly, of some discomfort, 

 and, possibly, of a trifling degree of danger — merely 

 enough for spice. 



This volume, then, is the fruit of over two years' 

 continuous camping and travelling on the desert. 

 It might more exactly be named "Colorado Desert 

 Trails" than "California Desert Trails," since there 

 are within this State other expanses of desert (such 

 as the Mojave, contiguous on the north to the region 

 I describe) which are not touched upon in the book. 

 But there seemed a danger of confusion in the other 

 name, since, on a casual sight, the word "Colorado" 

 in the title might give the impression that the sub- 

 ject-matter was some region in the State of that 



