The Mojave Desert is a 25,000-square-mile area that sits within the states of California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The California portion of the Mojave covers a significant portion of the southeastern part of the state, including parts of Inyo, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Kern counties. Despite being arid and desolate, certain California portions of the desert contain attractions that are a draw for tourists.
The California portion of the Mojave Desert is home to three U.S. national parks: the Mojave National Preserve, which is devoted to protecting the desert's cultural landscape; Death Valley National Park, which offers hiking, backpacking, mountain biking and other activities; and Joshua Tree National Park, which offers wildflower viewing, bird watching and other nature-themed activities. The region is also home to at least half a dozen state parks and recreation areas.
Several museums are located within the California portion of the Mojave Desert, including the Antelope Valley Indian Museum in northern Los Angeles County; the Route 66 Mother Road Museum in Barstow; the Mojave River Valley Museum, a scientific, historical and cultural museum in Barstow; and the Muturango Museum in Ridgecrest, which offers exhibits on the Mojave Desert's natural and cultural history.
Lake Havasu is an artificial lake that's primarily used for storing water that's pumped into two local aqueducts. Havasu, which is well known in the region for its recreational boating and fishing, borders the unincorporated San Bernardino County community of Havasu Lake.
Tourist attractions in the California portion of the Mojave Desert include a 134-foot thermometer-like sign located in the city of Baker. The sign, billed as the world's tallest thermometer, was built to commemorate a record temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit that was recorded in nearby Death Valley in 1913. The Kelso dune fields, which cover 45 square miles near Baker, contain a number of uncommon sand dunes, some of which are hundreds of feet in height. Also, the Calico ghost town is a former mining town in San Bernardino County's Calico Mountains that's been converted into a county park.
