Ridgecrest California - What's it like?

[CJP]

I live in California City (which I CANNOT stand!!!), but am in Inyokern about 2-3 times aweek for work. I moved into this desert directly from Germany (I am German) and was a little shocked, but DO like that specific area a lot. It is a little remote, I admit, but people seem to be very nice and I like the mountains!
Summers are VERY hot, LOTS of wind (sometimes a little annoying), but as I said better than the places closer to LA. If I could chose, I would move there instead of living where I do.

[da jammer]

well if you do move to Ridgecrest take a weekend to travel a little southwest and check this out:

Burro Schmidt Tunnel | Burro Schmidt


It's not too hard to find and really is an amazing thing to see and walk through.

[OILman1]

Pretty much everyone in Ridgecrest still speaks english. That in itself says it all. If for no other reason, move there for that fact alone. But if you do move there, please consider the feelings of the locals and don't bring any preconceived Angeleno notions. We all saw what happened to Landcaster. Ruined by the few in just a few short years.

[BarbaraW]

There is much to love about Ridgecrest. I'm lucky my children have grown up in this community---and it is a community. The City of Ridgecrest promotes youth activities---soccer, basketball, football and baseball. Scouting is strong here and religious youth groups, if you are so inclined. As kids, they could always go out and play, and I needn't worry about their safety to the degree I would in other areas. It's always been safe here. They are older now, heavily involved in sports. Sports, music, and drama programs will keep teens very busy here.
Although people complain about the lack of chain restaurants and malls here, I don't see that as a drawback. It makes going out of town special, and how many times do you really need to go to Applebee's or Red Lobster? The lack of temptation keeps my budget in check. I'm in my forties and I own my house outright. I also have no debt whatsoever. Then, to add injury to insult, it takes me less than ten minutes to get to work each morning. It's much easier living here since the advent of online shopping. Whatever I need is pretty much delivered to my front doorstep.
My husband and I do things all the time because of our location: we ride to Death Valley at least four times a year---we love the ride (he has a Harley). We go see the Charcoal Kilns up Wildrose Canyon in Death Valley, Artist's Palette, Scotty's Castle; Rhyolite is something else; we stay in Beatty and get the Ridgecrest Special. We ride up through the old mining towns and come out through to Big Pine. Big Pine has the southern most glacier in the United States (melting fast, though, and the oldest living trees, the bristlecone pines, are adjacent in the White Mountains) A few weekends ago we went to Yosemite (Gorgeous in the fall!!!) We like to stay up in June Lake and visit Mono Lake as well. Fossil Falls is an interesting stop up 395 (yep, that's a volcano right off the highway). The night sky is amazing here. We also head over to Kernville; we take the boys white water rafting in the spring. Weldon is an important bioregion and has amazing diversity. If you like birding, it's a great place to go. Ridgecrest has its own interesting birds stopping by during migrations.
If you need "stuff" to make you happy, Ridgecrest probably isn't the place for you. If you like to "do", then Ridgecrest is a great home base.