“Even after years of intimate contact and search this quality of strangeness in the desert remains undiminished. Transparent and intangible as sunlight, yet always and everywhere present, it lures a man on and on, from the red-walled canyons to the smoke-blue ranges beyond, in a futile but fascinating quest for the great, unimaginable treasure which the desert seems to promise.” – Edward Abbey

“All told, I have had little travel in my life which has yielded so much profit on the exertion as the old Mojave stage. I understand that the road is well furnished now with gas stations and hot dog stands, and the trip can be made in a few hours without incident. Which seems on the whole a pity.” – Mary Hunter Austin, Earth Horizon, 1932

Varied and diverse, the deserts of the Southwest capture the imagination. Although they may seem brown and “blah” to some visitors, deserts like the Sonoran and Mojave harbor some of the richest biodiversity in North America. In addition, the plants in the Mojave Desert are incredibly good at carbon fixation; by removing excess carbon from the atmosphere, uninterrupted swaths of desert flora work to curtail global climate change.

Click any of the thumbnails to see a larger image, and an accompanying description.

 

 

cholla and saguaro cactus are illuminated at sunset, with large rocky peaks in the background and wispy clouds in the sky overhead. Joshua trees and Mojave yuccas are backlit as the sun peaks through clouds; snow is driven across the landscape a rocky alcove protects small Joshua trees and cactus and is glowing in the late day light rock outcroppings called inselbergs stretch for miles as the sun sets across the Mojave Desert
Photo of the Cadiz Valley Sand Dunes at sunset; the sky is transitioning from pink to dark blue and the dunes are reflecting the light in the sky giving them a lovely golden color photo of the ship mountains in mojave trails national monument at sunset with the cadiz valley sand dunes in the foreground. The sky is a dark blue color and the dunes are reflecting the pink sky saguaro and cholla cactus are backlit and silhouetted at sunset storm light las vegas desert
snow is blown through the foreground on a blustery winter day in a large stand of Joshua trees, all of which are covered in snow juniper trees and rocks are illuminated as the sun comes up in the Mojave Desert photo of cadiz valley sand dunes at sunset. The sun is setting on the mountains in the background, backlighting the dunes and vegetation growing out of them. snowy Mojave yuccas stand against a wall of orange granite in Joshua Tree national park
joshua tree national park mountains pinto basin sunset, joshua tree national park A large field of lupine in the Sonoron Desert near the south entrance to Joshua Tree National Park photo of rain storm (virga) and hill layers at sunset in Gold Butte National Monument, Nevada
Cholla cactus on a cloudy and stormy day in the desert photograph of sunset at jumbo rocks in joshua tree national park photograph of sunset at jumbo rocks in joshua tree national park
desert las vegas storm storm on the racetrack playa blowing sand on sand dune photo of a rainstorm and rock outcroppings at sunset in gold butte national monument, nevada
photo of eroded hillside with debris in the Mojave Desert, Nevada photo of joshua trees and wildflowers at sunrise in gold butte national monument, nevada shadows on eureka dunes sunset on sand dunes
verdant canyon in the desert colorful stormy sunset fall scene in the morongo valley, california intimate cactus portrait in joshua tree national park
Photo of the cadiz valley sand dunes late in the day; alternating dark and light layers show the peaks and valleys of the dunes photo of a backlit teddybear cholla cactus early in the morning. The needles are a golden yellow color and a shaded hillside is in the background.    
A desert peak is illuminated in sunlight as a winter storm clears from the Mojave Desert
panoramic image of eureka dunes in death valley national park
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