Antelope Valley, Western Mojave Desert

26 March 2005

This page last updated 7 June 2008

The Mojave Desert stretches in the west from where the Western Transverse Ranges and Tehachapi Mountains meet at the intersection of the San Andreas and Garlock Faults to Death Valley, Las Vegas, Kingman, and south to Joshua Tree. The western Mojave Desert includes that part of this desert generally west of Barstow.

The Antelope Valley occupies the very western end of the great Mojave Desert, with State Route 138 traversing it east to west. The California Poppy Reserve is located in the Antelope Valley. Springtime in the Mojave Desert, when sufficient rain has fallen, brings forth a bounty of color in wildflowers.

Below are some views of the yellows and golds of wildflowers found in portions of the Antelope Valley during March of 2005.

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All photos copyrighted by David L. Magney 2005.

Links to Additional Mojave Desert webpages

California Poppy Reserve
Antelope Valley website
Antelope Valley Press Article
Radical Urban Theory's Antelope Valley Page
Antelope Valley general info site

Scenes from in and around the Antelope Valley in March 2005

Here right along State Route 14 between Lancaster and Mojave, the low hillside are covered by these small daisies.

A little further south, a species of Goldfields (Lasthenia) covers the alkaline playas, offering a sea of ephemeral gold.

A wetland species of Popcornflower (Plagiogothrys) in a drying playa, evidence of recent ponding of water here in the western end of the Mojave Desert.

California Poppy Reserve

Here is, on the right, a short silent video of these poppies blowing in the wind (it will take a while for this video clip to load as it is a 4.77 MB file, and you may have to hit "refresh" - sorry).

Here I am in a typical position for a botanist examining bellybutton plants.

Lupinus nanus, as small annual lupine, was quite common in this area of the Antelope Valley, but less visible than the yellows and golds of the Goldfields and California Poppy.

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