then he would roll leisurely out to the desert , watching the lengthening rays of the sun slant across the sage toward the craters , and pull off onto one of the four-wheel-drive roads that snaked across the gray volcanic ash , looking for the little turnout that marked his usual campsite , hidden in the sage , with its view downslope to the lake and across to the sawtooth sierra on the west and to the softer shapes of the craters to the south .