Hole In The Wall

Mojave Desert -- Winter is a good time to visit our neighboring deserts. In Los Angeles, we are blessed to have both the Mojave (high desert) and Colorado (low desert).

Pictured here are winter visitors exploring the rocky wonderland of Hole In The Wall, about three hours from Los Angeles. 

Prehistoric Land Shark Found in Mojave Desert

Joshua Tree National Park -- My wife recently made an observation that it seems all our photos (we are both shutter bugs) are of backpacking, nature and Boy Scouts (we are both Assistant Scout Masters). Our lives are full--so full that its hard to find time to go on our regular Los Angeles photo safaris. Instead, we document where we are at in our lives.

Last weekend was our Troop family camp at Joshua Tree; a three hour drive from Los Angeles. While walking among the cholla, creosote and other exotic cacti, I came across a most interesting rock formation, appropriately enhanced with  teeth.

Sign of Sun and Neglect

Unlike downtown Los Angels, the California desert is a place of mystery and open spaces. Though many view it as an unbreakable stretch of useless dirt, rock and an occasional tumble weed, it is not. Our deserts are fragile and ecologically delicate. That's what makes this place so special. Leave any foreign object out here in the sun and it will surely fade into the landscape, much like this traffic sign. However, one element refuses to fade: the California desert sky.

Decentralized Entomology Lab

East Mojave Preserve -- Preparing for a day of hunting insects. Interesting how some of us choose to spend a weekend.

A Lone Cross in the Desert

Palmdale -- Although I took this shot last December, it reminds me of the people we have lost in our lives. Perhaps the cross means something different to everyone; it is a symbol of torture, pain, sacrifice, forgiveness, love, hate, loss, peace, and most recently a memorial to the veterans of WWI in the East Mojave Preserve.

Bitten by Nature

Our guide warned us of dangerous insects, reptiles and plants. One of the deadliest snakes in North America is the Mojave Green rattlesnake. You don't want to be bitten by a Green.

When I saw my friend quietly nursing her wound, I became concerned. Symptoms from snake bite are sometimes slow to show up, causing victims to underestimate the severity of the encounter. First, you feel weakness in your muscles then you experience shortness of breath and extreme pain. Antivenin is necessary for survival.

Of course, I--being trained and certified as an Emergency First Responder (EFR)--had to get a photo of the wound first! I have my priorities your know....

Thank God my friend explained that it was not a snake that bit her, but a yucca. Even a plant can bite you!

Kelso Depot (Continued)

One of my greatest pleasures is driving through the Mojave Desert. In the good old days, I had a VW Van--a Westfalia camper equipped with roll-down windows and a spray bottle as an air conditioner.

Every other weekend a small group of friends chose a remote desert location on a map and drove there. Back in '80s, Kelso was headed towards ruins. The 80s was all about New Wave music, building up cities and solving the Rubik's Cube. Old desert towns and buildings were used more for target practice and dirt bike destinations than being appreciated and left alone. Preservation was alive but struggling.

Today, Kelso is enjoying a revitalization. The East Mojave is now mostly a Preserve. Inside Kelso Depot, an old fashioned soda fountain greets visitors with turn-of-the-century charm and nostalgia. All the individual rooms in the train station are used as a museum and library. They even have original recordings of a 1950s radio show broadcasting from a nearby desert town.


Here, one finds a vibrant, living desert full of history and hidden treasures.

Today, I drive a car with air conditioning. But when I'm rolling through mirages on the sun-soaked highways of the East Mojave, you will often find me with my windows down and stereo playing Marty Robbins and the Sons of the Pioneers, singing,

"All day I've faced a barren waste
Without the taste of water,
cool water
Old Dan and I with throats burned dry
And souls that cry for water
Cool..., clear..., water...."

World's Largest Thermometer

Urban Decay and the Beholder

The Mojave Desert is blessed with litter. Yes, litter! Since our deserts are so hot and dry, old discards from the late 1800s through the 1970s are better preserved and considered and often demand good money to the collector. I like to think we are lucky to have abandoned buildings, old soda cans and original mining tools laying around the ground. The trick is where to look....

Mineral Pool with a View

East Mojave Desert -- Luxury desert spas have been around for a long time. Some are more well-appointed than others. This one, however, is a bit frugal to say the least. Built in the 1940s, the cross-shaped pool was part of the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa and is now filled upon request.

A Drive Through the East Mojave

Spring is a great time to visit the East Mojave National Preserve. This is Cima Road, south of Interstate 15. A beautiful, 22-mile drive takes you to the town of Keslo and Kelso Depot.

Today, temperatures only reached about 100-degrees Fahrenheit. But afternoon thunderstorms quickly cooled the landscape and desert air to a pleasant 90 degrees.

The Bug Woman

Somewhere between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, in the middle of the hot, Mojave Desert I discovered Erin. As you can tell from her tattooed arm, she loves insects! She, as well as another seven students took a weekend class on entomology (the study of insects) at the Desert Studies Center at Soda Springs / Zzyzx, California.

Whistle Stop at Kelso Depot

East Mojave Desert -- Deep in the heart of the Mojave National Preserve is the newly renovated Kelso Depot and Visitor Center. The old train depot was built during the mining boom in the 1920s and had over 2,000 residents up until the 1940s. Today, the town of Kelso is pretty much a ghost town except for the 1920s-style soda fountain bar, museum and old fashion jail cell at the Depot.

More on the Kelso Depot and East Mojave to follow...

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