Presley hoped they would not end by making a fool of her.
Just beyond the irrigating ditch, Presley left the Lower Road, and following a trail that branched off southeasterly from this point, held on across the Fourth Division of the ranch, keeping the Mission Creek on his left.

A few miles farther on, he went through a gate in a barbed wire fence, and at once engaged himself in a system of little arroyos and low rolling hills, that steadily lifted and increased in size as he proceeded.

This higher ground was the advance guard of the Sierra foothills, and served as the stock range for Los Muertos.

The hills were huge rolling hummocks of bare ground, covered only by wild oats.

At long intervals, were isolated live oaks.