Carrizo Plain and the Mohave desert

These locations are geographically separate but share some wonderful attributes.  The Carrizo Plain is a dry and austere inland valley.  It has noteworthy Chumash pictograph sites but comes into its glory in those rare wet years with a springtime superbloom with dozens of flower varieties.  

The Mohave’s mountainous topography presents sublime cliff faces and at least six areas of sand dunes. Wet years will again bring expanses of long dormant flowers, and also vividly colored lichens.  The imprint of man can be found in abandonded mining towns and motels but also some of the most extensive rock art in the world.