Photo by Josh Sommers. Feature photo by Larry Miller.
California’s deserts include incredibly vast and varied terrains.
Covering up to 25,000 square miles of Californian terrain, the Mojave and the Colorado deserts present a rich diversity in landscape, ecology, and climate, and provide an important preservation of natural and human history. The following are some of the most spectacular of the national and state parks.
Joshua Tree National Park
Popular for its Joshua tree forests and climbable hills of bare boulders, Joshua Tree National Park has a uniquely alien and prehistoric landscape.
Slow growers, Joshua trees can live up to several hundred years with some making it to a thousand. Photo by Tobias.
Arch Rock. Photo by Yogi.
Sometimes after particularly wet winters desert dandelions grow. Photo by Dawn Endico.
Death Valley National Park
Its rich geologic and cultural history, and extreme environment and isolation (having some of the clearest skies in North America for stargazing) make Death Valley an attractive destination for nature lovers.
A sliding rock making its way across Racetrack Playa. Photo by Mike.
Badwater, the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level. Photo by PhillipC.
Zabriskie Point. Photo by Larry Miller.
Red Rock Canyon State Park
The result of erosion exposing the colorful sandstone stratas and creating hoodoos and other dramatic rock formations, Red Rock Canyon State Park has served as the backdrop of many films, including Jurassic Park.
Red cliffs such as these have helped geologists and paleontologists understand the region’s history for the past 500 million years. Photo by Tobin.
Desert tortoises are endemic to the western part of North America. Photo by Chris Selvig.
Photo by Tom Hilton.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
The largest state park in California and the second largest in the continental United States, the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park offers a varied sample of the Colorado Desert with broad vistas, dry river beds, and diverse ecology, such as palm groves, iguanas, foxes, golden eagles, roadrunners, and rattlesnakes.
The Borrego Badlands. Photo by Jurek Durczak.
Desert flora looks on as the desert sunrise paints a neon view. Photo by Florian Boyd.
Photo by Florian Boyd.
Mojave National Preserve
Seemingly barren compared to other Californian deserts, many make their way to this newly designated park for its booming sand dunes, volcanic formations, and Joshua tree forests.
Kelso Dunes, famous for “singing” or creating a low rumble when one slides down from the top. Photo by Lin Mei.
Photo by Chuck Abbe.
A chuckwalla soaks in some desert sun. Photo by Chris Selvig.
Robyn Johnson
After realizing that she graduated with two of the most impractical degrees known to man, English and Art History, Robyn Johnson decided to carve her own niche in the career world. Writing, photographing, and, surprisingly, baking, she constantly strives to synthesize her environment and her experiences within it. But sometimes she can be found indolently watching reruns of Star Trek and secretly embroidering accessories for her cats.
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