Thundering Quiet of a Desert Freehike

“Fall nude hiking weather has definitely returned to the desert. I went out to Anza Borrego via De Anza Springs yesterday. The weather was perfect around 70 with a slight breeze to bathe the body . . . What struck me the most was the thundering quiet of the desert in the fall. It was deafening. As I pressed on through washes and small canyons I was awed by how utterly serene and peaceful the desert can be, some might even say dead though that is not the case. The cacophony of silence was broken only by the random lizard scampering across the trail ahead of me and once by a pair of blue jays that flew passed me into a side canyon. For the most part just silence and sun. . . With my clothes miles away and other than the trail I was walking on there were no signs or sounds of civilization and one has the feeling of being alone in the universe as well as naked. I cannot rightly describe it; it is just a feeling of total peace and serenity for me.” - Jay