Mojave National Preserve. Wild Wild West. Mojave Desert in the USA

The desert got its name by the name of the Indian tribe Mojave, who has lived in these places for centuries. This large desert plain (35 thousand square kilometers) is called the "Sahara of the New World". Mojave crosses several hills, and mountain ranges lie along its border. The desert is known for the "Valley of Death" - one of the hottest places on Earth.

The Mojave Desert in the south of the state of California occupies not only the borders of the territory allotted to it by the state, that is, the state reserve. It is located at the junction of two states and includes three national parks at once: the Mojave proper, Death Valley and Joshua Three. And even the city of Las Vegas is also located on the territory in the Mojave Desert.

In the "lifeless" Mojave desert lives up to two thousand plants. Of the most famous - a variety of fir, juniper, several types of lupine, prickly pear, sage, several types of yucca, senna and jojoba. There is also a miracle in Mojave - after a heavy rain the desert is transformed overnight. These are ephemeroid seeds, which come to life after the rain, go to growth, covering the lifeless Earth with bright orange patterns. They say an unforgettable sight.

The desert has its own inhabitants who decide that the Mojave is their home. These are iguanas of several species, coyotes, rattlesnakes, desert turtles, hares, snow goats and bighorn sheep, cougars, foxes (albeit dwarf), skunks, scorpions and tarantulas and even raccoons.

This requires a four-wheel drive car, as the road is dirt. But paved and paved roads, which conveniently lead to the main attractions. Empty cities. They are also called ghost towns. Ordinary cities, once inhabited by people, where silver and other minerals were mined. Then the mines dried up, the highways came into disrepair, new ones were built around the city and the residents threw it. And they stand like ghosts of the past.

Tourists can meet them very far, passing through the Mojave. There are special tours of these cities, which are very popular. The railway depot and the city of Calico are one of the largest settlements in the multitude of ghost towns located in the desert. Residents worked in silver mines. The buzzing dunes of Kelso are located near the city and are the largest formations of ash sand.

Mojave is not like the desert in the usual sense of tourists - scorched Earth and sand dunes. An interesting desert alternating landscapes, when suddenly there are mountains, eaten by the winds and took strange forms. On the territory of the Mojave National Reserve are the buzzing dunes of Kelso. The sands make a loud, low-frequency sound that lasts up to 15 minutes. For centuries this rumble has caused superstitious horror among the inhabitants of the desert, generating a lot of legends and tales.

Entrance to the Dunes by car is prohibited. On the territory of the Mojave is the Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave Nature Reserve. Joshua Tree Park (Yucca) is a favorite place for rock climbers. Granite rocks reach seventy meters, they are polished by time, as if covered with frost. Thousands of routes for climbers with different levels of difficulty are laid here.

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