Discovering California’s

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Front cover L to R: John Dittli; John Dittli, Bob Wick Bottom: John DittliPage 3 John DittliPage 4 John DittliPage 5 Top: John Dittli Bottom: Ian Norman, FlickrPage 6 Top: John Dittli Bottom: Bob WickPage 7 John DittliPage 8 John DittliPage 9 Top: Bob Wick Bottom: John Dittli Page 10 John DittliPage 11 Top: Jack Thompson/ The Wildlands Conservancy Bottom: John DittliPage 12 Top: Bob Wick Bottom: John DittliPage 13 Sam RobertsPage 14 John DittliPage 15 John DittliBack cover: John Dittli

Table of Contents The California desert is a land of stark contrasts: Extreme heat and bitter cold. A geology hewn by volcanic fire and Ice Age lakes. Sahara-like dunes shimmer in the sere heat, and lush green oases beckon with year-round water.

Guarding this primeval beauty are pastel-hued mountain ranges and vast valleys spanning almost endlessly across the horizon.

It is a place that stirs our imagination and pioneer spirit.

This is the American West, and its timeless desert treasures are rich in culture and heritage. It’s where visitors can see traces of prehistoric peoples, Spanish and stagecoach trails, and the origins of the first U.S. highways.

Life also thrives here, even in the harshest of conditions.

In the Amargosa River – where air temperatures can soar past 115, or dip to near freezing – a tiny pupfish can live in salty waters, a holdout from a wetter climate thousands of years ago.

The desert is also home to bighorn sheep, desert tortoise, hundreds of birds, reptiles and many other animals, all well-adapted to heat and low precipitation.

Forests fill these wild lands, but their Joshua trees, spiny cholla and yucca are more akin to whimsical Dr. Seuss characters than stately pines. And after winter rains or summer thunderstorms, this arid landscape magically transforms into a fleeting panorama of vibrant wildflowers and blooming shrubs.

The unique legacy of the California desert attracts residents and visitors with its spectacular scenery, recreation opportunities and diverse history. These delicate wild lands can continue to be places of discovery if they are preserved.

California’s desert treasures should be protected from renewable energy and other development. Safeguarding the desert will ensure it will be enjoyed by today’s families and generations to come.

Panamint Valley ............................... 4

Fossil Falls ....................................... 5

Trona Pinnacles ............................... 6

Amargosa River ................................ 7

Silurian Valley .................................. 8

Rainbow Basin ................................. 9

Route 66 ........................................... 10

Whitewater Canyon ......................... 11

Big Morongo Canyon ....................... 12

Chuckwalla Bench ........................... 13

Upper McCoy Valley ......................... 14

Indian Pass/Milpitas Wash ............. 15

“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

“Portions of this document include intellectual property of Esri and its licensors and are used herein under license. Copyright ©2014 Esri and its licensors. All rights reserved.”

U.S.A. Federal LandsForest Service

Department of DefenseBureau of Land Management

National Park Service

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Desert TreasuresRoadsCounty Boundaries

Panamint Valley

Fossil Falls

Trona Pinnacles

Amargosa River

Silurian Valley

Rainbow Basin

Route 66

Whitewater Canyon

Big Morongo Canyon

Chuckwalla Bench

Upper McCoy Valley

Indian Pass/Milpitas Wash

TreasuresDesert

Ice age lakes fed a mighty Owens River

that rushed over black basalt from volcanic

eruptions as recent as 20,000 years ago. As

fiery lava poured into the river, the rushing

water sculpted and polished the rock into

waterfall-like formations.

Visitors to Fossil Falls can explore this

volcanic landscape by peering over the

steep drops of the now-dry falls. Also, to

the north, a red cinder cone looms. The cone

was formed when underground magma and

gas exploded into the air from a vent on the

Earth’s surface.

Fossil Falls is also rich in prehistoric

and Native American cultures.

Boulders bear well-worn metate marks

where seeds were ground into food.

Rock rings are the remnants of former

tule grass shelters. And some rocks are

carved with ancient petroglyphs etched

by native peoples.

Early inhabitants also crafted volcanic rock

such as obsidian into tools and spear points.

Today, evidence of this skilled tool making

can still be found in the many stone chips

and flakes that litter the ground.

Archaeological sites at Fossil Falls are dated

between 4000 BC and the 19th century.

Indians had thrived here for millennia,

up until the Little Lake Shoshone were

met by the first European explorers.

Fossil Falls is a short drive off of

Highway 395 and there is a rest area,

picnic tables and restrooms. An easy

trail leads to the falls and there’s a

rustic campground.

5

Stop off the highway, and seconds of

absolute silence seem to slow to minutes.

The horizon is unobscured, and a column of

thunderclouds can easily be 10 miles away,

or perhaps 100 – one’s vision tricked by

the land’s emptiness. Sunrises extend their

first rays onto the magnificent Argus Range

on the west, across Panamint Valley, to the

towering Panamint Range in Death Valley

National Park to the east.

Sitting 1,000 feet above sea level, and

spanning 65 miles from north to south,

Panamint Valley offers a glimpse of its

historic mining legacy, rains that spawn

seasonal wetlands and wildflower fields

and side trips to unusual sights.

In the southeastern end of the valley,

a four-wheel drive and hike up Surprise

Canyon will delight visitors with a year-

round cold and clear stream tumbling out

of the mountainside – an oasis for humans

and wildlife including desert bighorn sheep.

Mining and history buffs can also ponder the

facts, or fiction, of the ghost town Ballarat

that lies near the base of Surprise Canyon.

Much of the valley can be enjoyed by

simply driving. To explore the northern

areas, Highway 190 to Death Valley

offers spectacular views. And when road

conditions allow, take the Trona-Wildrose

Road, a scenic, two-wheel drive route

linking Panamint Valley to the unusual

formations of Trona Pinnacles in

Searles Valley to the south.

4

2Fire and ice conspired to create

dramatic Fossil Falls, a geologic wonder

at the southern tip of the Owens Valley.

Panamint Valley’s stunning beauty reveals itself in

the vastness of its wild vistas. A time-traveler’s dream,

the valley downshifts visitors to nature’s rhythm.

Panamint Valley

1Fossil Falls

History

Amargosa River

Located near the southeastern entrance to

Death Valley National Park, the Amargosa

River is a rare perennial waterway in the

Mojave Desert. Dubbed the hide-and-seek

river because much of it is underground,

it surfaces and winds through Amargosa

Canyon, nurturing lush “hanging gardens,”

marshes and mud flats.

The Amargosa’s waters sustain a rich tule

marsh habitat attracting bobcat, badger,

the endangered Amargosa vole, the

Amargosa pupfish and more than

200 bird species including Phainopepla

and Summer tanager.

Humans have also been drawn here.

What are believed to be prehistoric paths

later evolved into overland routes including

the Old Spanish Trail used by 1820s

traders in the former Spanish territory.

Early American explorers and Mormons

later favored this route.

Today’s travelers can enjoy scenic vistas

off Highway 178 or the Old Spanish Trail

Highway, east toward Pahrump, Nevada.

Well-equipped, four-wheel drive vehicles

can retrace the old Tonopah and

Tidewater railroad bed.

Hikers can access scenic Amargosa Canyon

trails starting at the China Ranch Date Farm.

One path meanders along the river, another

reaches a narrow slot canyon with steep

walls. And an easy one-mile walk connects

to the Grimshaw Lake wildlife site.

Former mining towns also have visitor

activities. Tecopa has hot springs,

and there’s a local and natural history

museum in Shoshone.

7

In fact, water played a key role in forming

the unique, often eerie, spires at Trona

Pinnacles. Between 10,000 to 100,000

years ago, this part of the Mojave desert

was underwater and part of the alkaline

Searles Lake. Over time, calcium carbonate,

in a form known as tufa, formed

underwater pinnacles.

As the Ice Age receded, Searles Lake,

one in a chain of Pleistocene lakes along

California’s northeast spine, went dry,

exposing several hundred tufa towers.

Today, this alien landscape is popular for

hiking, primitive camping and movie and TV

shoots (including sci-fi productions “Lost In

Space” and “Battlestar Galactica”).

In 1968, Trona Pinnacles was designated a

National Natural Landmark by the Bureau of

Land Management to protect these rare tufa

formations and their curious shapes:

• Towers: Taller than they are wide, these

are 30 to 40 feet high, with pointed,

rounded, or flat tops.

• Tombstones: Dense and squat,

like a headstone, these can rise to

20 to 30 feet.

• Ridges: These are massive and toothy

tufa expanses. The largest at Trona

Pinnacles is 800 feet long,

500 feet wide and 140 feet tall.

• Cones: Less than 10 feet tall, cones

can be pointy or mounded.

To explore Trona Pinnacles, there’s a

half-mile hiking trail, dirt driving routes

and primitive camping. Its solitary beauty

is best experienced at sunrise, sunset,

or lit by a full moon.

6

Trona Pinnacles

3 4When desert winds whisper through Trona Pinnacles,

they resemble the lull of ocean waves heard

through a conch shell.

With its rare year-round desert river, the Amargosa River

region has enticed ancient peoples, wildlife and explorers

for thousands of years.

9

Subtle, multicolored layers of sandstone,

tuff and siltstone are striated in pink,

sienna, green and cream, their hue

and intensity changing from early

morning to dusk.

The rock walls and craggy formations

also bear evidence of erosion as well

as earthquake faults that have bent

and folded the earth’s crust like

saltwater taffy.

Hidden within these layers, and exposed

over time from erosion, researchers have

identified a significant trove of mammal

fossils dating back 15 million years.

Fossil plants hint at an ancient landscape

far different from today: tree-filled hills

by a lake, populated by giant bear dogs,

rhinoceros, early camels and horses. Today,

only researchers with a special permit

can collect fossils, to protect this rare and

important site.

Much of Rainbow Basin’s scenic beauty can

be enjoyed by driving the marked roads,

while walkers can get a closer view on

established hiking trails. Photographers

also are drawn to this unusual landscape

that reveals its character across all seasons.

Four-wheel-drive vehicles can explore

the Fossil Canyon Loop road.

Wildlife thrives here and the best

opportunities to observe animals are

during early morning and evening hours.

Birdwatchers favor Fossil, Coon, and

Owl Canyons. Primitive camping is

available at Owl Canyon Campground.

Today, this vast valley, ringed by desert

mountain ranges, echoes with the vibrant

history of the Old West.

Archaeologists have found traces of

the Old Spanish Trail – the bustling,

1,200-mile historic trade route that linked

New Mexico to Los Angeles until the late

1800s. Recently, remnants of a ceramic

smoking pipe, its bowl shaped with the

head of President Zachary Taylor, and other

relics were discovered in Silurian Valley.

It’s also a place where winter rains foster

spring wildflower blooms and temporary

lakes draw migratory birds.

But the enduring beauty of Silurian Valley

is in the sheer size of the landscape:

a cyclorama vista of expansive valley

guarded by the majestic Avawatz Mountains,

Soda Mountains and Kingston Range and

crowned by endless sky.

The valley also lies between two of

California’s most scenic natural landmarks,

the Mojave National Preserve and Death

Valley National Park, connecting the parks

with nearby wilderness areas.

Standing within Silurian Valley today,

one can imagine what it was like to be

an early explorer heading west to the

“promised land” of California.

8

5 6Nature’s soft pastel palette and its artful sculpting of

desert geology lie within the hills, canyons and washes of

the Rainbow Basin Natural Area just north of Barstow.

The remote and beautiful Silurian Valley is named for an

ancient geologic period, when plants and animals began

to emerge from the sea onto land.

Rainbow BasinSilurian Valley

The river’s canyon, nestled between the

San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains,

sustains a rich habitat for bighorn sheep,

bears and endangered species including

Southwestern willow flycatcher and the

Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard.

Winter views are framed by white-capped

rapids and dramatic snow-capped peaks,

while hot summers can dry the river to a

trickle, leaving only underground flows.

One of the best places to explore the area

is at the 2,851-acre Whitewater Preserve,

nearly hidden in a canyon just north of

Interstate 10 near Palm Springs.

Preserve trails offer wilderness mountain

views and some sections intersect the

Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. Historic

trout ponds, a visitor center and camping

are managed by The Wildlands Conservancy.

In the cooler spring, families can enjoy

bird watching, star gazing and childrens’

catch-and-release fishing.

Most of the Whitewater River’s

headwaters start high atop 11,503-foot

Mt. San Gorgonio, Southern California’s

tallest peak, rushing down through alpine

forests to the desert floor far below.

In the 1800s, Spanish explorers dubbed the

river “agua blanca” or “white water” for its

turbulent rapids. In 1850, the Whitewater

Ranch was established, later serving as a

stagecoach stopover.

Today, the former cattle ranch is the

preserve, and downstream the Whitewater

River eventually disappears underground,

percolating through the arid desert floor,

replenishing a critical aquifer for the

Coachella Valley.

11

By the 1920s – and the birth of U.S.

Highway 66 – streams of automobiles

were traveling across the Southwest and

the California desert.

Today, the longest remaining undeveloped

stretch of ‘the Mother Road’ in eastern

San Bernardino County offers spectacular

and serene desert vistas of Old California.

Route 66’s unique scenery includes the

Cady Mountains that tower 3,980 feet above

Sleeping Beauty Valley—one of the few

intact Mojave valleys with hundreds of plant

species, some of them rare. This area is also

an essential corridor for desert tortoise and

desert bighorn sheep.

Just beyond these wildflower-dappled lands

are several prominent features including:

dramatic Amboy Crater, a National Natural

Landmark; the Pisgah lava flow; the Clipper

Mountains and expansive Fenner Valley.

These former railroad lands are now publicly

owned by the Bureau of Land Management

(BLM), and towns along Route 66 are

working with the BLM to preserve its unique

heritage and beauty.

Important historic landmarks include ghost

towns and the Harvey House rail depot

in Barstow. Route 66, also known as the

National Trails Highway, was named by

Smithsonian Magazine as one of

10 Must-See Endangered Cultural Treasures.

10

7 8Beneath the aging pavement of historic Route 66 lie the dusty trails

once traveled by hardy pioneers who settled the Old West. Later,

railroads followed these trails and further opened frontier lands.

Its waters nourishing parched lands, the year-round

Whitewater River has enticed explorers, wildlife and visitors

drawn to this rare desert creek for centuries.

Whitewater CanyonRoute 66

13

Located northeast of the Salton Sea, an

aerial view of the bench reveals a bajada

–an alluvial fan or triangular sweep of land

striated by washes, nestled between the

Chuckwalla Mountains and the

Chocolate Mountains.

During seasonal storms, the bajada’s

‘irrigation’ system sustains a thriving

desert forest of yellow-flowering palo verde,

ironwood trees dappled in lilac blooms,

scarlet ocotillo, desert willow with its showy

pink flowers, mesquite, Joshua trees and

the rare Munz cholla.

This diverse habitat attracts a rainbow of

bird species including hawks, warblers,

tanagers and hummingbirds. The rarely

seen burro deer, a thriving population

of endangered desert tortoise and the

namesake chuckwalla also live here.

History buffs are drawn to the Bradshaw

Trail, once part of a 70-mile-long

stagecoach route from the 1860s named

for miner William David Bradshaw. The route

was quickly dubbed the “Gold Road” for the

many miners traveling to the Arizona gold

fields from San Bernardino in search of their

glittering fortunes.

Today, it is a popular four-wheel-drive road

with sweeping mountain and valley vistas,

bighorn sheep sightings, and primitive

desert camping for well-equipped visitors.

Named for the Morongo Indians who thrived

here before the arrival of white settlers,

it is the only spot in the desert where

Big Morongo Creek surfaces and feeds a

verdant marsh and oasis. The creek bubbles

for three miles along a fault in the canyon

before it disappears underground.

Today this 31,000-acre nature preserve is

shaded by a dense canopy of cottonwoods

and willows that make it among the

10 largest river habitats of its type

in California.

Located off Highway 62, southeast of

Morongo Valley (and 15 miles north

of Palm Springs), the preserve is an

internationally recognized bird-watching

destination that draws wildlife seekers

who can view a remarkable diversity of

birds, plants and animals.

The Audubon Society identifies Big Morongo

Canyon as one of California’s most important

bird habitat areas and the American Bird

Conservancy considers it one of the United

States’ Important Bird Areas. Hundreds of

species are seen here including Vermillion

flycatcher, Yellow-breasted chat, Golden

eagle and endangered Least Bell’s vireo.

Bobcats, desert bighorn sheep, mule deer,

Pacific tree frogs and other animals are

also common.

Big Morongo Canyon is a unique transition

zone and wildlife corridor connecting the

higher Mojave Desert and Joshua Tree

National Park to the lower Colorado Desert.

The canyon is open daily and features trails,

a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk, picnic

facilities, restrooms and trail displays.

12

Chuckwalla BenchBig Morongo Canyon

9 10Like a hidden desert jewel, Chuckwalla Bench is rich with stagecoach

history, a flourishing desert woodland and a cornucopia of wildlife

including endangered desert tortoise and more than 150 bird species.

For centuries, the desert oasis in Big Morongo Canyon

enticed both Native Americans and animals drawn to

its life-sustaining creek.

14

The valley is laced with an intricate array

of alluvial washes, or bajadas, flourishing

with ironwood and palo verde trees. At

the northwest end of the valley, up toward

Palen Pass, is one of the largest and lushest

ironwood forests in the California desert.

Some individual trees are so impressive

scientists have named them the

“Palen Pass Huge Ironwood Trees.”

Indians once made tools and weapons

extensively from ironwood because of the

wood’s durability; it is so dense, it sinks in

water. Ironwood seeds were also a key

food source for tribes.

Natural rock depressions along the

flanks of the nearby mountains known as

tanks fill with seasonal rainwater. These

life-giving water sources drew Indians,

explorers and wildlife over the centuries.

Evidence of ancient people can be found in

petroglyphs, cleared circles, used pottery

and groundstones.

Wildlife thrives in the wooded bajadas

including burro deer, coyote, bobcat, gray

fox and mountain lion. Desert tortoise

frequently make their home here.

And bighorn sheep roam the mountains and

the bajadas and drink at the tanks.

This area, from the deep slanted canyons

and jagged peaks of Indian Pass Wilderness

to the old mesquites, palo verde trees, and

ironwoods in Milpitas Wash, hosts a diverse

variety of wildlife. The washes and rocky

slopes are home to desert tortoise and

mule deer. Signs of mountain lion and

bighorn sheep are also evident in nearby

crags and canyons.

For thousands of years, these lands have

been an important part of the traditional

homeland of the Quechan tribe who were

formerly known as Yuma Indians. Ancient

trails, intaglios (large ground etchings),

rock alignments, sleeping circles, remnants

of stone tools and other evidence of

the tribe’s long history are still found

throughout the area. Many cultural sites are

nearly invisible to the untrained eye but are

still used today by tribal members.

A forest, lush by desert standards, thrives

in the lowlands of the Milpitas Wash region.

Some trees stand almost 15 feet high, and

showy desert willow grows in the washes.

The Quechan buried their relatives on

these lands, and spiritual journeys

through the trails and canyons hold special

significance to the tribe. It is still possible

to detect ancient trails walked by their

people for generations.

15

Upper McCoy Valley Indian Pass to Milpitas Wash

11 12Upper McCoy Valley is nestled between the Palen Mountains

and the Little Maria Mountains. Surrounded on three sides

by the Palen-McCoy wilderness, it is remote and primitive.

Driving south along Highway 78 from Blythe, past the

Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, one crosses Milpitas Wash.

Nearby, the Chocolate Mountains rise from the desert floor.