Panoche Desert Hills

On a clear day, you can see across the Central Valley to the horizon which is wall-to-wall snow-capped Sierra mountains. The other direction, you’re looking into the old New Idria quicksilver (mercury) mine and the San Benito Wilderness. All around you will be arid, treeless desert in the rain shadow of a mountain range. You didn’t know that actual desert came all the way up to just 2h30m from San Francisco now, did you? Double-track gravel road for miles and miles and zero cars for hours.