California (and Nevada) Desert

Joshua Tree, Cap Rock, Joshua Tree National Park, 2008

There are times when I absolutely love the desert. And then there are times I think it is the most desolate and awful place ever invented. Once I leave San Diego, the desert is just there beyond the mountains. Except for the trip up the coast, you must cross the desert to get practically anywhere to the North or East - Sierra Nevada Mountains, Arizona, Las Vegas, and so on. And, since I travel north and/or east a great deal of the time when I travel out of San Diego, I see a lot of desert.

Here in San Diego, we even have a desert state park, Anza Borrego State Park. This Park is only really enjoyable during the last fall and winter. Starting in March, the temperature starts to heat up and even the amazing desert flowers are not enough to tempt me to visit during Spring and Summer. The closest National Park to San Diego, Joshua Tree, is also a desert park. There are some National Parks and Monuments in Arizona; curiously, I've visited the ones in the north and east but not in the south and west (otherwise known as the ones closest to ME!). Arizona and its sites are covered in other pages on this website.

As you travel north on US-395 (my favorite highway in the state) in the middle and eastern part of California, you start out near Victorville. Eventually, you will drive through towns with names such as Adelanto, Randsburg, Inyokern, Little Lake, Pearsonville (the hubcap capitol of the world), Olancha, Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine, and Bishop. As you drive, you will climb in altitude, with the Sierra Nevadas becoming more and more visible on your left (west) but the scenery on your right still very deserty. This is known as the high desert and it exists at least as high as 8,000 feet above sea level, the location of Bodie Ghost Town. Hot or cold depending on the season but always very windy. The disparity between the west and east sides of US-395 are truly striking.

North of Bishop, this mountains-in-the-west, desert-in-the-east landscape continues pretty much all the way up to Reno. I like driving north of Bishop best - the scenery is just amazing and I can head west at Lee Vining and visit my favorite part of Yosemite National Park as a bonus. Up here, however, you also get to see Mono Lake, Bodie, Convict Lake, and a multitude of other scenic areas that I am just beginning to explore (some of which will become available on my Sierra Nevada Mountains page when I get that up and going).

Here, however, you get pictures and narrative about the desert. Mostly the California desert but I did include Lake Mead from Nevada as well.

	Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, California To the east of a small California city called Big Pine, up high (at about 10,000 above sea level) is the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. To reach the Forest...read more
	Anza Borrego State Park, California
	Bodie Ghost Town, California I have visited Bodie, California, 3 times in 4 years. In those visits, I have seen 99.9% of the town (since my last visit, in July of 2004,... read more
	Death Valley National Park, California I visited Death Valley for my first (and only time, thus far) in Fall of 2006. I drove over from Las Vegas through Pahrump. From there...read more
	Joshua Tree National Park, California
	Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada
	Mono Lake, California Between the cities/towns of Mammoth Lakes (in the south) and Lee Vining (in the north) on the eastern side of US-395 lies Mono Lake...read more