Some of the best time spent in the wilderness for the Travel Writing students during the 2008 Winter Term course consisted of solitude and reflection. Above, Peter Trigg (right, white dot) and Bill King (left gray dot) sit atop the desert knolls recording their thoughts and experiences amidst Christmas Cacti, scraggly brush and crumbling mountain sides. The desert does indeed provide solitude, but if you are not careful, it will rob you of your sanity. At times when all you can see is the barren wasteland of rock, sand, dirt and vicious plants looming up before your weary eyes, it�s difficult to remember that life does in fact exist in this cruel, unforgiving environment.