Our Own Little World

The sun never seems to burn quite as bright when the eight to five starts before dawn, and the frowns will never be stronger when the falling sun dyes the sky orange before the workday is done. In the middle of winter though, when vitamin D is at its scarcest quantities, these problems become nearly impossible to solve, either sunrise or sunset must be compromised for the greater good. Herein lies the problem: in order to save a few hours of sunlight, the workday must be moved further back into the morning darkness. In principle, this shift solves the problem completely, but it brings forth another – the inevitable depression that comes with hearing the alarm at four o’clock. The brilliant minds that inhabit Indian Wells Canyon have now solved this problem.
The first day of the long work week may give you the blues with the pre-dawn wake-up call, but if you set your watch to read 8:15 when the sun peeks over the silhouetted mountains, the alarm clock will not seem so evil. For the rest of the work week, which for us is a short ten days, can now begin at the sensible hour of seven instead of four, and the sun sets hours after the workday has been finished at five. The post-workday treat has never been sweeter than when it is accompanied by the pink stained sky, especially when that snack is filled with the freshest local persimmons.
A rare treat indeed, the persimmon had evaded the lives of the Owens Peak crew until one fateful Saturday when the farmers of Inland Empire sent a fresh batch of them to the desert. Once again, the brilliance of Indian Wells showed through with a sugary concoction that resulted in seven cookie addicts. Members of local community-supported agriculture group in Southern California, the crew gets a shipment of fresh, local, and organic food every week. This specific time it was loaded with the rare fruit and will forever leave orange sparkle in the crew’s eye and a numbing sensation on the tastebuds.
The proof is in the product: with different food, a different time, a different goal, and a different state of mind, the crew members of the Owens Peak Wilderness Area created their own world and are more than happy to stay off the grid.