Tell me about the desert area of Kern County! (Victorville: to buy, contractor)

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Brandon Graves

So now, I figured out that the communities of Ridgecrest, Inyokern, Indian Wells, Rosamond, Mojave, Boron, North Edwards, and Aerial Acres are all located within the sprawling Indian Wells Valley. Correct? Is California City in it, too?

Only the bold, and the China Lake Base until the Coso Mountains.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

The vast majority of personnel there is non-active duty.



And watch for falling cows.

Are they mostly techs, and engineers then from military contractors? The town must have a very household income with low cost of living.

[Brandon Graves]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Only the bold, and the China Lake Base until the Coso Mountains.

Then what valley are Rosamond, Mojave, Boron, North Edwards, and Aerial Acres located in?

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by Brandon Graves

Then what valley are Rosamond, Mojave, Boron, North Edwards, and Aerial Acres located in?

Antelope Valley

[riceme]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

East of Canebrake is Walker Pass, which is kinda scrubby/piney (including with Joshua Trees/Yucca), and snowy in winter. Canebrake has tons of Joshua Trees, and semi-piney mountains in the distance.

Onyx, very small town, it can get decent snow. Desert-ish.

Weldon is similar, but I swear it had a gas station (I can't find it now). More like steppe surrounded by desert mountains.

I slept in Mountain Mesa once. Not much to it. Same for Southlake. You might as well call these Lake Isabella too.

Lake Isabella is the capital of it all, but it ain't much, though it has the most services. The lake is a reservoir, thus it dwindles in size, and there is apparently a town buried under it. The lake is very clean. Kind of scrubby mountains surrounding, but steppe-ish at ground level.

Wofford Heights can also get decent snow. Mostly scrubby.

Kernville is a nice little town, kind of transitional from desert to mountains, one of the classic California looks IMO. Touristy.

The whole area is in pretty deep economic decline. It's mostly retired people, it's fairly poor overall, but still a bit of a playground, but not overwhelmingly so.

North of Kernville, you can take a bunch of forest/back roads through the Sequoia National Forest, end up in Kennedy Meadows, and back down a terrifying switchback road to Inyokern.

The old service station and general store in Weldon is Paul's Place (originally Earl's Place). It has been there since about the 30s and is still there, as far as I know.

If you make the trip north of Kernville up into the Sequoias, bring your appetite and make sure you stop at McNally's for a steak.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by Brandon Graves

A town buried under Lake Isabella (lake)? Where did you hear about this?

Here's a little info and some pictures about Old Kernville. My great aunt (one of the ones that grew up in Atolia, reference your Trona thread) taught at the schoolhouse in Old Kernville. I have a bunch of photos somewhere.

https://www.sierranevadageotourism.o...4d9587d8903a2f

[riceme]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Dang, could you guys imagine a C-D road trip? That would be epic.

Are y'all going to come pick me up?

I kid, I kid.

But seriously, I also think Brandon should go exploring. Some of these places have really amazing history. If I were to pick an area from his multitudes of threads (haaa ha) I'd go to Randsburg, Red Mtn, Johannesburg, Atolia. Tons of interesting history there. I used to drive out there just to hike around and clear my head on my day off in the Spring and Fall.

Pro tip: the Mojave Desert can get very cold in the winter and is not to be trifled with.

Places to skip: Cal City and Trona. Ugh.

All this talk about the Mojave makes me miss the smell of sage brush.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by Brandon Graves

Then what valley are Rosamond, Mojave, Boron, North Edwards, and Aerial Acres located in?

Brother, you desperately need an atlas of California. I think you would like this:

https://www.amazon.com/California-At...40_&dpSrc=srch

[Brandon Graves]

Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133

Antelope Valley

Oh, wow. I always thought that the Antelope Valley was only within Los Angeles County, no?

[volosong]

Originally Posted by Brandon Graves

Oh, wow. I always thought that the Antelope Valley was only within Los Angeles County, no?

No. The LA/Kern County border line is man-made, arbitrary line created for political purposes. A valley is defined by topography. The two have nothing to do with each other. However, for convenience, they may be the same, such as state boundaries that align with a river.

The Antelope Valley is not a true "valley", but is generally defined to be bounded by the San Andreas and Garlock geologic fault zones on two sides. The eastern edge of the triangular shaped "valley" is not strictly defined, (that I know of), and is generally accepted to be somewhere a few miles west of Victorville. Once you see a satellite image of the area, the fault lines are quite obvious.

The Antelope Valley is the extreme western edge of the Mojave Desert, which itself is a part of the much larger Sonoran Desert.