Mojave Desert

Traverse rock and land formations in the Mojave on a five-day adventure crossing the Mojave Desert by rail, bicycle and kayak. Guests will go cycling through the canyons, valleys and passes, kayak the Colorado River, then relax in a natural hot spring. Participants camp under the stars, except for one night in a motel. Tours departs throughout the year on full moon weekends.

Everything a desert tortoise is--patient, quiet, slow, a homebody--fast-paced urbanites are not. Perhaps, then, that's why we Californians admire our official state reptile. One of the best places to glimpse one is at the Desert Tortoise Natural Area in the West Mojave Desert near California City. March through mid-June is the best time to glimpse a tortoise and right now is a good time to view the desert wildflowers.

The Air Force is considering basing as many as 50 nuclear missiles at a California desert installation, either Edwards Air Force Base or the Ft. Irwin Military Reservation, according to a report released this week. Up to 50 of the small intercontinental ballistic missiles known as the Midgetman would be stationed at each of six regional complexes being considered nationwide.

Recent rains have produced a "green-up" in most Mojave Desert areas that should result in good hunting for about 1,000 deer hunters who hold Zone D17 deer tags, Department of Fish and Game biologists say. The 23-day season in D17, one of the largest of the state's 27 hunt zones, will start Oct. 11. D17 encompasses nearly all of San Bernardino County and extends north to the Nevada state line, east of Bishop.

Like two wary armies, anti-hunting activists and law enforcement personnel were out in force but stayed at arm's length during the start of the bighorn sheep hunt over the weekend. While eight hunters searched for sheep in two sectors of the eastern Mojave Desert, nobody seemed to be looking for trouble. There were many sheep sightings but no killings and no arrests.

The Metropolitan Water District staff recommended Wednesday that the district's board indefinitely defer the controversial Cadiz water storage program in the Mojave Desert because environmental concerns and a drought on the Colorado River have dramatically reduced the chances it will provide useful quantities of water to Southern California. The recommendation, which was transmitted to the board over the signature of MWD Chief Executive Ronald R.

With its solar probe safely on its way, the space shuttle Discovery was kissed by the rising sun as it dropped out of a clear sky and glided to a flawless landing here Wednesday morning. It was a cold (38 degrees), crisp moment when the shuttle touched down at 6:57 a.m, but the successful mission warmed the hearts of space officials who feel they have been snakebitten several times in recent months.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, rejecting a last-minute maneuver by the Bush Administration, announced Friday that he will not transfer federal land to California for a low-level nuclear waste dump in the Mojave Desert until he is satisfied the move would be legal. Interior officials said Babbitt will review an environmental assessment of the land transfer and seek more public comment.

Minerals brought life to this scorched corner of the Mojave Desert more than a century ago, and a string of prospectors have clutched the fate of tiny Trona in their fists since. Wedged in a wind-swept bowl hugged by three rugged mountain ranges, Trona is the classic company town, its destiny written by corporate outsiders who come to tap the bounty hidden beneath the chalky crust of Searles Dry Lake.

They had seen the five bighorn rams while scouting a day earlier. All appeared to be hunter-legal, with the required three-quarters curl in their horns. They noted the one with the best set of horns, returned to camp and slept restlessly that night, hoping the animals would still be there the next morning, when California's third limited hunt for the desert bighorns opened in the eastern Mojave Desert. The rams were indeed there, bedded down in the side wash of a draw.