That night Gill roasts the corms in tinfoil in the campfire. When cooked, they take on a slightly sweet flavor that goes well with the surfperch that Erlandson caught from shore at a nearby beach. After a few minutes on the fire, the white fish is tender and juicy. Cactus pads—“a natural insulin regulator,” explains Gill as she burns off the thorns in the fire—are a side dish. “It is impossible to starve or go hungry here,” adds Erlandson after we eat and the stars come out by the thousands. “This is a story of coping with abundance.”