Desert Tortoise in the Mojave 

I’ve found these creatures in many places out on the Mojave Desert. They are easy to find, eating their way through fields of spring wildflowers. Their tough shells protect them from most predators, but not the many off-road vehicles that race across these flat, wide-open spaces. Too many of them are killed crossing highways or collected as souvenirs. 

A Desert Tortoise Research Area has been established out in the Mojave desert, about 12 miles east of the town of Mojave and a few miles north of California City. At the east end of California City Blvd., head north on Randsburg/Mojave Road, keeping left at the fork. About 9 miles beyond the fork you’ll come to a sign at the left turn into the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area. Park outside the gate. It will take you about an hour to walk around the trails inside the large fenced enclosure. The fence doesn’t keep the tortoises in. It keeps the off-road vehicles and desert motorcycle racers out. Their bulletin boards are filled with information about desert wildlife. 

If you are planning a photo exploration of the back roads through California’s deserts, read my Photograph America Newsletter #57 - “California Back Roads.” Another reason to subscribe to the most detailed bimonthly photo/travel newsletter available. For more information and subscription details check out: http://www.apogeephoto.com/800get_foto.html    

Previous Great Locations:

Up the Hudson River  
At the Base of the Kaiparowits Plateau  
Durango to Silverton Railroad along the Animas River  
Sunrise through the cottonwoods behind the old Johnson Ranch
Winter in the Tetons
Autumn Color in the Village of Waterville, Vermont   
Salt Valley Road in Arches National Park  
Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City, California 
Victorians along Steiner Street on Alamo Square in San Francisco 
Toroweap Overlook on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon   
Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park 

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