Betsy Shepard

Yeah, it's pretty epic.

Here we are.

Hi.

Are you Jack Farley by chance?

One thing that impresses us so much about this area is that you have a desert landscape on one side, you have mountains and forests on the other, and then in between it's these really cool rock formations.

Oh, wow.

And it creates a bowl shape.

Kind of looks like George Washington.

And he would run from here to that mountain all the way over there and then run up it?

As June 11, 1998 nears its end, Debbie Ajay becomes increasingly panicked.

Because her husband, Deputy John Ajay, told her he'd be home around dark.

And by now, he's several hours late.

So she dials up one of the sheriff's stations where Ajay worked.

Vince Burton was a sergeant in the Antelope Valley.

He was also Ajay's colleague and friend.

So he gets on the phone with Debbie.

Patrol deputies hightail it to the punch bowl, where they find Ajay's truck, but no Ajay.

They think maybe he got injured, slipped and fell, or had a run-in with some wildlife.

So Burton dispatches search and rescue to the site, and he calls in their coordinator, Dave Sauer, to discuss Ajay's likely route.

Ultramarathoners are running extremists who power through long distances.