James Murren
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Digital Detox: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Earn Your Beer // The Earning

At the end of every fall semester, going on many years now, I go on a solo desert digital detox weekend. Forty-eight hours of no connection with devices is my way to tune in and tune out. The agreement, though, is that I carry my SPOT device so in the case of an emergency, I can switch it on. I’ve never had to do that on desert digital detox weekend. Also, a note sits on the countertop providing the details of my whereabouts. It is there for my bride if she would need to find me. I don’t deviate from the note. Earn Your Beer

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the largest state park in California, with over 500 miles of dirt roads. Its sand, dirt, and sometimes rock desert roads are perfect for bikepacking on fat tires. Getting away from the crowds is easy; simply go further. Out there, in the folds and slots of canyons, live Peninsular bighorn sheep. I sit for hours scanning the mountain lion-colored jumbles of rocks the sizes of Volkswagen Beetles and bungalow houses looking for them. I’ve yet to see any as they rest or navigate their homeland. Binoculars and a book by my side are a source of entertainment.

In the late afternoon, as it’s turning into evening, ridgelines seem to slowly emerge in 3-D, like the stereogram art that was popular in the 1980s. Staring then at the posters of colored dots and wavy lines, slowly and surely, the images popped off the paper and floated in front of the poster. I know of no other way to describe the Borrego light and shadows on those desert ridgelines at dusk out there by Sheep Canyon. Is it magic? Go and see for yourself, and I’ll bet you’ll believe me when I say that we need not try to imagine a better place than here. No better time than now. It, the unimaginable-trying-to-be-imagined, already exists.

It’s a cold winter’s desert. Wrapped in fleece and tucked into my down bag, I lay with my head outside the tent door. Up there, satellites cross the constellations. The Milky Way’s creamy softness hangs like a soft pillow of heavenly peace. I think of wonder and love, thankful in the mindfulness that I’m experiencing. Grateful not in knowing of this wonder and love, but rather, I am grateful in having felt it and feeling it in the here/now.

How often do we go on adventures and leave loved ones behind? They are our rocks. I am thankful for mine.

Before long, sleep settles into my being, and my eyelids begin to close. I don’t fight it, at all. Rested bones and spirit happen. Later, I awake and snuggle deeper into my bag. And then later, the pale light of morning arrives and gives way to the brighter sunshine of morning. I revel in the heat of the sun’s rays. I sit like a lizard, sipping on a cup of coffee, content to the world.

Earn Your Beer // The Beer

It’s a digital detox, not a beer one! For outings on the trail, carrying extra weight is a bit counterintuitive. Nevertheless, sitting back and sipping on a can of imperial stout or a barleywine as the sun fades away and the night sky softly sparkles with emerging starlight, is an okay way for me to enjoy the light show. Societe’s The Butcher is a doozy of an imperial stout, with all the hallmarks of a roasted/campfire winter warmer, so to speak. societebrewing.com

On the barleywine end of things, one I’ve taken out on the trail over the years is Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Barleywine-Style Ale. It’s a classic, though it’s not a true barleywine. Who cares?! As the desert air chills and a coyote song sings out, the sweet molasses bread rises and mashes into the bitter pine resin, a smashing success of deliciousness on the tongue. sierranevada.com

 

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