California Desert Trails was the third and final travel book written by J. Smeaton Chase. After taking on the coast and the mountains, there was still the desert. It seems to also have ostensibly been a guide. He included two chapters and an appendix devoted to the area plants. A second appendix reproduces helpful travel suggestions from USGS. (It may be noted that although this was included, it was after many chapters in which he clearly did not manage to follow quite a few of the suggestions.) A chapter on "desert lore" and geography complete the set of introductory material before finally setting off on the travel. (But there are some smaller travel stories in among these early chapters.)
The route he takes on for this book is the circumnavigation of the Colorado Desert. This is the desert area between the Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert, not an area of the state of Colorado. He does this in the heat of summer and, I must say, his horse Kaweah is an absolute superhero. (He says he was delayed 2 months in his start, but since it was a 3 month trip, that still would have left some of the travel during the greatest heat.)
This one does not seem quite so positive about the environment, which seems odd contrasting with the mentions that he is reflecting on this journey while still among the palms and springs of that stark place. In fact, he ultimately settled down in Palm Springs. So, why stick to the desert? Well, it's all very complicated. He does offer this, when on a mountain pass between desert areas:
Kingly oaks for dull mesquit; winey breath of cedar instead of acrid alkaline dust; frank bird in place of furtive reptile — it was a blessed exchange. And yet, and yet — already I felt the magic, the magnetism, of the old, wonderful desert, drawing me back: back to its dreariness, silence, and secrecy, its cruelty of heat and thirst, its infinite expanse, its ageless mystery and calm, its threat of death, its passionless repose.
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