Posted on March 20, 2021, 1:07 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Days 14, 15 Shooting Gallery Basin and Range National Monument is located near the south edge of the Great Basin Desert. The detached Shooting Gallery Unit, about 8 miles west of Alamo, is the southernmost section of the monument. It is part of the Mojave Desert, as evidenced by strands of Joshua Trees growing there. […]
Posted on December 17, 2020, 8:43 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Days 3,4,5 Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument protects five mountain ranges located in four detached sections of distinct character straddling all sides of the city of Las Cruces and separated by two interstate highways, I-10 and I-25. To the east, the 20-mile-long Organ Mountains, although they form the second smallest section, are the most developed […]
Posted on December 10, 2020, 10:58 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Day 3 After arriving at the trailhead for Waterman Peak in Ironwood Forest National Monument at 12:30 am, I walked around to locate the trail. Having driven straight from the previous sunset location, I had re-arrange the gear in my new rental car to make room for sleeping before setting up the alarm clock for […]
Posted on December 3, 2020, 6:47 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Day 2 In Mojave Trails National Monument, Bigelow Cholla Garden Wilderness, 18 miles west of Needles, protects California’s densest population of the fluffy cactus. The Wilderness area is bounded by I-40 on the north and power utility roads on the southwest and southeast. On my first visit, I tried to drive the later roads in […]
Posted on November 19, 2020, 11:49 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Day 1 At Bonanza Springs, the only water source of its size in more than 1,000 square miles of most arid desert, willows and cottonwoods line up a small canyon for half a mile. The watering hole sustains rare Mojave Desert wildlife including tortoises and bighorn sheep. It is a great place to camp and […]
Posted on May 7, 2020, 9:20 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Part 5 of 5: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 When reading descriptions of the Sonoran Desert National Monument, you come across a lot of statements that the national monument is the most biologically diverse of the North American deserts for instance, from the BLM that manages the national monument, although what […]
Posted on April 30, 2020, 9:28 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Part 4 of 5: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Although a primary helper of biological diversity, the desert ironwood tree for which Ironwood Forest National Monument was named is hardly a visually impressive feature. On the other hand, independently from its remarkable biological diversity, you cannot miss the prominent 3,907-foot Ragged […]
Posted on April 23, 2020, 8:43 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Part 3 of 5: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Of all the North American deserts, the Sonoran Desert is distinguished by its trees – the Joshua Tree growing in the Mojave is a yucca and lacks wood. Desert ironwood trees (Olneya tesota) grow only in the Sonoran, where they are one […]
Posted on April 9, 2020, 7:11 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Part 2 of 5: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Although quite obscure in the big scheme of things, the locations in Sonoran Desert National Monument that we visited in the first part of the article are the most obvious because they are along the monument’s designated trails. Those trails predate the […]
Posted on April 2, 2020, 5:13 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Part 1 of 5: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 The Sonoran Desert is the most biologically diverse desert in North America – or maybe not, see discussion in the last part of this series. Thanks to the national park designation, the most well-known track of Sonoran Desert consists of Saguaro National […]
