Death Valley Summer

Two brothers try to lead lost campers to safety in the fourth adventure of the Wilder Boys series.

The boys help out at a wilderness camp near Sequoia National Park, a day’s drive south of the Sierras. The camp’s main draw is a multi-day trek traversing woodlands, mountains, and desert during a team-based orientation competition that will take them to the edge of Death Valley. When Jake and Taylor’s team counselor is badly hurt in a flash flood, they must galvanize the lost campers to find shelter, aid the injured counselor, and supplement their low supplies with what can be found around them.

At first, stumbling across a ghost town seems like a lucky break from the scorching heat of summer, but the town is already occupied by counterfeiters who are none too pleased about their operation being discovered. The boys must use all their resourcefulness and knowledge of the outdoors to protect their teammates from the criminals and the elements.

Trekking solo across the remotest corners of Wyoming and Montana as a young man, Brandon Wallace learned how to survive the hard way in the harshest conditions nature could throw at him. Having spent the subsequent two decades as a trail leader, passing on his knowledge to a generation of budding adventurers, he turned his hand to fictionalizing his experiences, and the Wilder Boys series was born.