Mojave Desert
The
Mojave Desert (
Mojave is used for the desert while
Mohave is used for the native people) occupies a significant portion of southern
California and smaller parts of southwestern
Utah, southern
Nevada, and northwestern
Arizona, in the United States. Named after the
Mohave tribe of
Native Americans, it occupies over 22,000 mi² (35,000 km²) in a typical
Basin and Range topography.
The Mojave Desert is bounded in part by the
Tehachapi together with the
San Gabriel and
San Bernardino mountain ranges. The mountain boundaries are quite distinct since they are outlined by the two largest faults in
California: the
San Andreas and the
Garlock. The
Great Basin shrub steppe lies to the north; the warmer
Sonoran Desert lies to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are less distinct. One way to determine entry is by observing the presence of
Joshua Trees. The desert is believed to have between 1,750 and 2,000 species of
plants.
The Mojave Desert receives less than 6 inches (150 mm) of rain a year and is generally between 3,000 and 6,000 feet (1,000 and 2,000 m) in elevation. The Mojave Desert also contains the
Mojave National Preserve, as well as the lowest and hottest place in
North America:
Death Valley, where the temperature normally approaches 120°F (50°C) in late July and early August.
Joshua Tree National Park is also located in California.
Zion National Park, in
Utah, lies at the junction of the Mojave, the
Great Basin, and the
Colorado Plateau. Despite its aridity, the Mojave (and particularly the
Antelope Valley in its southwest) has long been a center of
alfalfa production, fed by irrigation coming from
groundwater and (in the 20th century) from the
California Aqueduct.
The Mojave, like all deserts in general, is known for its
summer heat; however, much less renowned is the Mojave's
wintertime cold.
Snow, although uncommon, does fall in parts of the Mojave, like on the 7,929 ft.
Clark Mountain north of
Interstate 15 and the 11,049 ft.
Telescope Peak. Amounts range from just a trace to a foot or more of heavy wet snow which can lead to freeway traffic closures. The coldest wintertime temperature ranges have been below freezing yet above 0°F. That said, many parts of the Mojave typically range from highs easily over 100°F in the summer to lows of around 20–30°F in the winter.
Wind is also a weather factor.
Las Vegas, situated on the desert's east, has relatively sparse wind, but the community of
Mojave, situated at its western end, has wind nearly every day — sometimes surpassing fifty miles per hour. Nearby
Tehachapi Pass, due to the high likelihood of reliable wind, is home to an extensive "
wind farm" of electrical
wind turbines.
The Mojave Desert contains a number of
ghost towns, the most significant of these being the silver-mining town of
Calico, California and the old railroad depot of
Kelso. Some of the other ghost towns are of the more modern variety, created when
Route 66 (and the lesser-known
US Highway 91) were abandoned in favor of the
Interstates. The Mojave Desert is crossed by major highways
Interstate 15,
Interstate 40,
US Highway 395 and
US Highway 95.
Among the more popular and unique tourist attractions in the Mojave is the self described
world's tallest thermometer at 134 feet high, which reportedly also has measured highest °F temperature ever recorded in the region, which is located along
Interstate 15 in
Baker, California.
Kelso Dunes is also a popular recreation spot.
The
Mojave River is an important source of water in this arid land. A part of the
Colorado River also traverses its far eastern portion.
The Mojave Desert is not entirely rural as a few cities do exist there.
Las Vegas, Nevada is the Mojave's largest city and metropolitan area.
Palmdale is the largest city by population on the California side of the desert and is part of the
Lancaster/Palmdale Urbanized Area, a
U.S. Census Bureau defined term. Other incorporated cities include Littlefield and Kingman in Arizona; Boulder City,
Henderson, Jean,
North Las Vegas,
Laughlin, Pahrump, and Primm in Nevada;
Victorville,
Barstow,
Ridgecrest,
Twentynine Palms, and
Needles in California; and
Hurricane, Ivins, La Verkin, Virgin,
St. George,
Santa Clara, Springdale, and
Washington in Utah.
Angelenos often refer to its southwestern portions, the
Antelope Valley and the
Victor Valley, as the
High Desert.
*The Newcomer ship in
Alien Nation hovered over the Mojave Desert at its fictional 1988 arrival.
*Fictional character Captain
Christopher Pike of the
Star Trek universe called the Mojave his home, having grown up in the town of Mojave, built in what was once desert "wasteland".
*The play
Fool For Love, written and directed by
Sam Shepard in 1983, takes place on the edge of the Mojave Desert.
*The Mojave Desert has been featured three times throughout the series of the
FOX hit drama televison show,
24:
**In the first season of
24, terrorist,
Mandy, blew up a
747 airplane and then parachuted into the Mojave Desert.
**In the second season of
24,
George Mason sacrifices his life to dispose of a nuclear bomb safely in the Mojave Desert.
**In the fourth season of
24,
Air Force One was shut down by a
stealth fighter over the Mojave Desert and
Jack Bauer had to go in and find the
Nuclear Football briefcase, which was among the wreckage of the aircraft, before the terrorists could get it.
*In
Hunter S. Thompson's book
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and its film adaptation, when Raoul Duke, Dr. Gonzo and the hitchhiker are on their way to
Las Vegas, they are driving through the Mojave Desert. Duke is contemplating what to do with the hitchhiker: "How long could we maintain, I wondered. How long before one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy? What will he think then? This same lonely desert was the last known home of the Manson family, will he make this grim connection when my attorney starts screaming about bats and huge manta rays coming down on the car?"
*The stark back-drop for
Madonna's 1997 comeback "
Frozen" video is the desert shot through a cold filter.
*In the
PlayStation video game
Parasite Eve 2, the majority of the storyline unfolds in a small town called Dryfield (said in game to be located in the Mojave desert.
*The
music video for the
Spice Girls' second single,
Say You'll Be There, was shot in this
desert in
September 1996.
Plants
*
Astragalus newberryi*
Barrel Cactus*
Banana yucca*
Beaver Tail Prickly Pear*
California Fan Palm*
Camissonia campestris Mojave suncup
*
Cooper dyssodia*
Death Valley monkeyflower*
Desert candle*
Desert five-spot*
Desert larkspur*
Desert Lily*
Desert rock pea*
Desert star*
Erigeron concinnus*
Ipomopsis arizonica*
Island Oak No longer found in the Mojave Desert.
*
Joshua Tree*
Jojoba*
Jumping Cholla*
Linanthus demissus*
Lupinus arizonicus*
Mojave prickly poppy*
Mojave sage*
Mojave yucca*
Mormon Tea*
Pencil Cholla*
Phacelia calthifolia*
Phacelia crenulata*
Prairie clover*
Senna covesii*
Teddy-bear Cholla*
Utah Juniper*
White woolly daisy*
Wide-bannered lupineAnimals
*
Big Horn Sheep*
Chuckwalla*
Cougar*
Coyote*
Desert horned lizard*
Desert iguana*
Desert kit fox*
Desert tortoise*
Jackrabbit*
Fringe-toed lizard*
Mohave tui chub Endangered fish
*
Mountain Goat*
Rattlesnake (Mojave Green and Western Diamondback)
*
Scorpion*
Tarantula*
Zebra-tailed lizardImage:Mojave_Pinnacles.jpg|Pinnacles National Natural LandmarkImage:Mojave_Kelso.jpg|Kelso Sand DunesImage:Mojave_AftonCanyon.jpg|Slot Canyon in Afton CanyonImage:Mojave_DustDevil.jpg|Dust Devil, El Mirage Dry LakeImage:Mojave_CoyoteDryLake.jpg|Water hole, Coyote Dry LakeImage:Mojave_Rainbow2.jpg|Rainbow Canyon, near the city of BarstowImage:Mojave_Amboy.jpg|Amboy CraterImage:Mojave_SummerStorm.jpg|Summer Storm*
Amboy Crater*
Colorado Desert*
Death Valley and
Death Valley National Park*
List of North American deserts*
List of California regions*
Low Desert*
Mojave phone booth*
Solar One*
Sonora Desert*
Zzyzx Road An actual road that runs through the Mojave Desert.
*
Palen Mountains*
Lake Delores*
Photo tours and maps of points of interest in the Mojave Desert*
Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program*
Mojave Desert images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu (
slow modem version)
Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Jon Mark Stewart, 1998, pg. iv
