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Desert Escapes

Get ahead of the heat and enjoy SoCal desert destinations, from hikes to outdoor art installations.

Trail at Whitewater Preserve
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The Mojave Project traces the musical heritage of Pioneertown and other adjacent communities of the High Desert.
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Death Valley National Park and its environs are full of mysteries, surprises, and communities that quickly went from boom to bust.
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Devoted birders can visit plenty of places right here in the California Desert to get their bird on.
Art and Protest - Noah Purifoy
The Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum of Assemblage Sculpture, open to the public, illustrates the artist's vision during the last 15 years of his life.
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German artist Dennis Rudolph erected The Portal -- a gateway to Heaven or Hell -- in California City, the lost paradise of Los Angeles' future.
Dark skies in Joshua Tree National Park.
Here are seven of our favorite Low Desert spots to contemplate your local portion of the universe.
Earth Month
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"Artbound" travels with Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio as they perform "One Hundred Mules Walking the Los Angeles Aqueduct."
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The towns in the eastern side of the Coachella Valley have long utilized romanticized portrayals of the Middle East to shape views of their own desert backyard.
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The California desert offers millions of acres of amazing things to see and do. With so much to choose from, where does a person start?
Chuckwalla Valley campground. | Photo: Chris Clarke
Those of us in or near the California deserts are lucky: we can engage in our favorite pastime year-round.
Black-tailed jackrabbit | Creative Commons photo by Bill Bouton
If you see a bunny in the Southern California desert, ask yourself if you'd call it "lanky." If so, that's a jackrabbit. If not, it's a cottontail. Cottontails are compact and pudgy looking. Jackrabbits are neither of those things.
In Joshua Tree National Park | Creative Commons photo by Jorg Dornblut
Few objects say "California Desert" quite so unambiguously as the Joshua tree. The Mojave's signature tree yucca is an apt symbol for the countryside it lives in -- harsh, bleak and seemingly unforgiving, yet oddly picturesque and evocative.
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