...Speak of the devil.  Just as we were strapping in, ready to take off, the INS showed up.  They buzzed us several times.  (Very impressive jet helicopter they've got there.)  No doubt their purpose was to look us over and to intimidate, if we were members of the usual class of folk that frequented Carrizo Gorge.   Our parking lot "escort" told us the INS had placed sensors (audio? video? olfactory?) in the Gorge to monitor the progress of ne'er-do-wells making their way down-Gorge.  He said they keep count of how many miscreants are making their way northward, wait a couple of days and pick them up at the other end... Wouldn't that just piss you off if you put in the effort to crash through a class 5 hike for two grueling days just to get bagged at the end?

With all the dangers now known and the resolve to execute the hike as planned, we shoved off into the desert.  But as it turned out, we hadn't completed our catalog of dangers...