Across California: Over 500 to Go

Photo credit: Stan Shebs

We had a rainy first night deep in a canyon that cuts through the Dead Mountains. I was amazed at the Native American rock art that survives here, some high up on the canyon walls. I had a cold breakfast, dried off some gear, and headed on up canyon through smoke trees as we crested into the next valley. On Highway 95 we met my wife Letty in the resupply vehicle. We'll meet her again on the afternoon of March 23 if all goes as planned -- 21 miles as the crow flies. Only 12 miles so far. Over 500 to go.

-- Calvin French

Cal, 74, a member of the Sierra Club for 42 years, is trekking 530 miles to highlight the threatened natural corridors between the Colorado River and the Pacific Ocean. Cal sits on the Sierra Club Santa Lucia Chapter Board, represents the Chapter to the national organization, and serves as a spokesperson for the Chapter on the Carrizo Plain National Monument. So, why is he doing this?

"To show that someone can walk across the heart of California on public and conservancy land, avoiding roads and highways, over an area that still looks natural," he says. "And it is through this personal connection with the land, during a two-month journey, that I hope to highlight the necessity of preserving and protecting what wildness remains. If the habitats within this great wildness become cordoned off and isolated, they will eventually die of starvation."