In a lonely corner of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Southern California lie the ruins of one man's dream. Marshal South had his income as a poet, writer, and painter swept away by the Great Depression. So he brought his wife Tanya and their three children to a remote desert mountain, where they hand-built an adobe house which they called Yaquitepec. They lived there for more than a decade in the 1930's and 40's, gathering much of their food from the desert and collecting rainwater in cisterns. This is the story of my search for the ghost of Marshal South.
Weather is very windy and mostly cloudy.
The trail is steep and rocky, but well-maintained and easy to follow. Ocotillos and agaves loom like specters in the cool light of my lantern. Alone like this on a dark, cold, windy night, I begin to understand why Tanya South longed for less lonely surroundings. The ruins are in a fairly decayed state. A few door and window frames survive, but they will not last long.