The Harsh And Barren Beauty of The Mojave Desert

February 7, 2016
   The Mojave Desert is easy to dismiss. At first glance, it's not beautiful. It's much more harsh than the Sonoran Desert, where I live now, and it's devoid of the things I love: saguaros, paloverdes and octotillos, to name but three things that do not proliferate on the Mojave. On the surface it seems to be lacking life, but, if you pay attention, you will find a stark beauty in that void that grows on you. Check out this excellent time lapse montage of the land where I am from.

Mojave Blues

   One thing the Mojave does have more of is these bad boys:

Mojave Desert Dust Devil #1

Mojave Desert Dust Devil #2

Lonely Ranch On The Mojave

Mojave Desert Near Earp, California

   All these photos were taken on our recent trips to Pasadena to visit our grandson Weston. We tired of the monotony of I-10 out of Phoenix, so we sought out another route, which ended up to be the two-lane blacktop route back tracking through Parker, Arizona, across to Earp, California and then the back way to 29 Palms and Joshua Tree, and then on to Big Bear Lake up in the mountains. Our kids have since moved to Seattle, so we probably won't be out here much, but I sure grew to appreciate the barren beauty of the Mojave.

"I don't see the desert as barren at all; I see it as full and ripe. It doesn't need to be flattered with rain. It certainly needs rain, but it does with what it has, and creates amazing beauty."

—Joy Harjo