√ Where To Go
The Mojave Desert (pronounced MO-HA-VE) is an arid region in the American South West delineated by Joshua trees, seperating the warmer Sonoran Desert, with the famous saguaro cactus, and the cooler and higher Great Basin and Range of Nevada, known for it’s sagebrush.
Geography
Covering 25,000 square miles (60,000 km2), or twice the size of Belgium, this is a land of extremes. As, peaks higher than Oregon’s snowcapped Mount Hood, and a popular how-low-can-you-go tourist “been-there-done-that” 282 feet (86 m) below sea level of Badwater, in Death Valley.
Driving from north to south on interconnecting state highways —without taking FWD only dirt tracks— the distance is about 450 miles. From west to east via freeway enroute from Los Angles to Las Vegas, avoiding the desert ravaged asphalt of Route 66, the Mojave is half that. Even allowing for a gas stop in Baker, traveling the freeway at 70-mph one can “do the desert” in three hours.
Climate
According to the California Road and Recreation Atlas we carry, Needles, California has 11 days yearly with precepition 5 inches of rain, in short lasting thunderstorms that cause flash floods, or prehaps as snow at the very tops of the mountains of gold rush fame across the north to south broad valleys. The rest of the year after mid-May is noted for 165 days above 90 degrees farienheight.
The summertime 134°F recorded in Death Valley should be a warning to wear “intelligent” clothing. It also is the reason most tourists find Fall, and Spring, the best time to visit. The real suprise to some is how bitter cold wind whipped nights any time of the year can be after a tolerable sun dips behind a barren landscape that does not retain the heat of the day.
Traveler’s Information
The two big suprises for overseas visitors to the Mojave are, that by landing at the International Airport at Las Vegas, you have arrived, and even with two natonal parks, and a national preserve, there are a limited number of motels and restaurants offering accommodations for those wanting to experience it all.
Obviously we spent more than a day or two photographing the desert. Our answer to an air mattress and tent is a self contained motorhome (see our sister publication, www.MotorhomeTraveler.com). We have enjoyed “boondock” campgrounds with neighbors from overseas, but wish a RV rental company out of LV had enough sense to include a generator to run the microwave needed to heat and serve something out of the propane fueled freezer.
And a concern, about your concerns, over saftey
Death Valley was name that for a reason. Traveling anywhere, in any vehicle, in the Mojave, carry extra water. You have been warned!
As for danger from wildlife, be prepared to shake your head out of amazement over how smart (and cute) coyotes happen to be. Our Border Collie Motorhome Maggy made the mistake once of running a small female away from camp, only to watch the “bitch” take off the next day with her favorite ball. If you a lucky enough to see a rattlesnake, just think of them a puppy also, wagging a tail. In short, the truth about Hollywood nightmares of the living desert, is that they sell tickets.
The other big city misconception is that in 'hillbilly' America if you hear someone playing a banjo —run for your life. We know, however that crime (if you are not a Wall Street banker) is the result of overcrowding of underemployed in city neighborhoods that have a background wall of “white noise” that drives the "overcivilized" quite mad.
As any visit to the Mojave is a real lesson in the connectivity of nature. Trust that Americans you may meet here are more interested in living in the light of a clear blue sky, than under the darkness of a prison cell. The desert is a place where well all need each other, and consequently just about anybody you greet here with a Western style “Howdy,” will be an introduction to a —as Will Rogers used to put it— “friend you have yet to meet.”
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