We began our dissent over fields which surprised me since the desert seemed an easier landing field. However in some way perhaps there was not a wide set of possibilities for the pilot.
He chose a field which had recently harvested sugar cane. He made more than one attempt using a blast of gas to lift the balloon when we drifted too far into the next crop.
Eventually in the third try he made a call and a bunch of guys appeared and crossed the fields from the road. They wrestled us down and kept us from blowing into the adjacent cane fields.
There are holes woven into the body of the basket for toe holds to get in and out. I got at photo of them on one of our missed landings.
The one closest to the basket floor is about 18 inches off the floor the next one is about 40 inches and the you hike yourself up to the rail on your fanny and use the same steps to the ground. Once there we walked down the rows until we reached the road.
daily woodring 