JTNP has been a favorite cool-season destination of mine since the 1970s. Then, the Park (still a National Monument) had few paved roads and fewer visitors. The front country has since exploded in popularity and you need a reservation months in advance to car camp. But the backcountry remains desolate, a good place for those who like to walk and ruminate and connect to the landscape without distractions. This TR narrates a roughly 70-mile traverse from the high country at the west end of the park out to the eastern basins, then doubles back through the southern mountains and down to the palm oases of the Coachella Valley.

Read the first (of five) entries here