High Desert is a vernacular region with non-discrete boundaries applying to areas of the western

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily ...

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

. The "High Desert" region is an area that generally is situated between and in

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

, and located just north of the San Gabriel, San Bernardino, and Little San Bernardino Mountains. The term "High Desert" is commonly used by local news media, especially in weather forecasts, because of the high desert's unique and moderate weather patterns compared to its low desert neighbors. It generally gets much hotter in the summer and much colder in the winter than the lower elevation areas closer to the coast and in the lower valleys. The term "High Desert" serves to differentiate it from southern California's Low Desert, which is defined by the differences in elevation, climate, animal life, and vegetation native to these regions. Comparison example:

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

is considered "Low Desert", at above sea level. In contrast,

Landers Landers may refer to: People * Landers (surname), a list of people surnamed Landers (including fictional people) Places * Landers, California, United States * Landers Peaks, group of peaks in the northern portion of Alexander Island, Antarct ...

is considered "High Desert", at above sea level. The High Desert, along with the " Mojave River Valley" and the

Victor Valley The Victor Valley is a valley in the Mojave Desert and subregion of the Inland Empire, in San Bernardino County in Southern California. It is located east of the Mojave's Antelope Valley, north of the Cajon Pass and the San Bernardino Valle ...

, is mostly used to describe the area centered around Victorville. The region extends as far west as Lancaster, as far northwest as Palmdale, and north to the Barstow desert. High Desert has also been incorporated into the names of businesses and organizations in these areas. The term "High Desert" is also used to refer to the communities north and west of Joshua Tree National Park -

Twentynine Palms Twentynine Palms (also known as 29 Palms) is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Twentynine Palms serves as one of the entry points to Joshua Tree National Park. History Twentynine Palms was named for the palm trees found there in ...

the Morongo Basin ( Yucca Valley). These are also at a higher elevation than the Low Desert that surrounds the

Coachella Valley , map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg , map_caption = Coachella Valley , location = California, United States , coordinates = , width = , boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacin ...

and Imperial Valley.

Geography

Depending on how the boundaries of the Mojave and the Colorado Desert region are defined, the High Desert either includes the entire California portion of the

(using a smaller geographic designation than its

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

) or the northern portion of the California desert (using a larger geographic designation including the

ecotope Ecotopes are the smallest ecologically distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system. As such, they represent relatively homogeneous, spatially explicit landscape functional units that are useful for stratifying land ...

area of the lower and adjacent

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Ariz ...

). The name of the region comes from its higher elevations and more northern latitude with associated climate and plant communities distinct from the Low Desert, which includes the Colorado Desert and the below sea level

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of the U.S. state of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough that stretches to the Gul ...

. The High Desert is typically windier than the Low Desert, and averages between 12 degrees to 20 degrees Fahrenheit cooler in both the winter and summer seasons.

Regions

The High Desert is often divided into the following regions, moving west to east: *The Los Angeles County portion, containing the

Antelope Valley The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and ...

, part of the Palmdale-Lancaster Urbanized Area, and in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Lancaster—Palmdale, CA Urbanized Area is home to 353,619 people. *The San Bernardino County portion, containing the

is the most populous region of the High Desert with an estimated 2015 population of over 385,960 residents. Major population center in area includes Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley, Adelanto, and Oak Hills. This region is sometimes considered part of the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the citie ...

area of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

. *Further east lies the Lucerne Valley and the Morongo Basin, where Yucca Valley and the Twentynine Palms Marine Base are located. All these regions are all considered to be part of the

Greater Los Angeles Area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino ...

. San Bernardino County's portion of the High Desert region contains the most land mass of the four involved counties, making up approximately 70% of the total county's area. Burnt Horizon

Other parts of the greater physical region known as the "High Desert" include: *The San Bernardino County northeastern reaches of the High Desert, where the

Fort Irwin National Training Center Fort Irwin National Training Center (Fort Irwin NTC) is a major training area for the United States military in the Mojave Desert in northern San Bernardino County, California. Fort Irwin is at an average elevation of . It is located northeast ...

and the Searles Valley are located, and the far eastern edge of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

where places like Needles and Earp are located along the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

. *The Kern County portion, containing part of two valleys, with the southeastern part in the Antelope Valley, including Rosamond, California City, Boron,

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is ...

, and Mojave, which are all a part of the Palmdale-Lancaster Urbanized area, and the northeastern part being in the Indian Wells Valley, including the communities of Inyokern and Ridgecrest. *The Inyo County portion, north of Kern County and containing the northern end of the Indian Wells Valley,

Panamint Valley The Panamint Valley is a long basin located east of the Argus and Slate ranges, and west of the Panamint Range in the northeastern reach of the Mojave Desert, in eastern California, United States. Geography The northern end of the valley is i ...

, and Saline Valley. This is the most sparsely populated area of the High Desert, with a single major community, Lone Pine in the southern Owens Valley.

Cities and communities

The major metropolitan centers in the region are primarily centered on the cities of Lancaster and Victorville. Lancaster, the largest city in the High Desert, is located in the Antelope Valley next to Palmdale and anchors the area's Los Angeles County region with a metro area of just over 500,000. The

area, which includes cities and communities such as Victorville, Hesperia, Adelanto, Apple Valley, and Lucerne Valley, boasts a population around 385,000. The Barstow area, to the north of Victor Valley, and the Morongo Basin near Joshua Tree National Park both have populations of around 60,000.

List of cities, towns, and census-designated places

:''Incorporated places are listed in bold. This list includes all places in the broadest definition of "High Desert." Population figures are most recent information available from the US Census Bureau.'' * Acton (7,596) * Adelanto (34,160) * Agua Dulce (3,342) * Antelope Acres (2,800) * Apple Valley (73,508) * Barstow (23,972) * Bishop (3,746) *

Boron Boron is a chemical element with the symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the '' boron group'' it has t ...

(2,253) * Calico (12) * California City (14,217) * Cima (10) * Daggett (200) *

Del Sur Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes t ...

(1,750) *

Edwards Edwards may refer to: People * Edwards (surname) * Edwards family, a prominent family from Chile * Edwards Barham (1937-2014), a former member of the Louisiana State Senate * Edwards Pierrepont (1817–1892), an American attorney, jurist, and or ...

(2,063) * El Mirage (unknown) * Elizabeth Lake (1,756) *

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

(89) * Fort Irwin (8,845) * Goffs (23) * Halloran Springs (18) * Helendale (4,936) * Hesperia (95,274) * Hinkley (1,915) * Hi Vista (3,003) *

Inyokern Inyokern (formerly Siding 16 and Magnolia) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. Its name derives from its location near the border between Inyo and Kern Counties. Inyokern is located west of Ridgecrest, a ...

(1,099) * Johnson Valley (2,101) * Joshua Tree (7,414) * Kelso (0) *

Lake Hughes Lake Hughes is an unincorporated community in northern Los Angeles County, California. It is in the Sierra Pelona Mountains, northwest of Palmdale and north of the Santa Clarita Valley, in the Angeles National Forest. It is on the sag pond wate ...

(649) *

Lake Los Angeles Lake Los Angeles is a census-designated place (CDP) in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 12,328 at the 2010 census, up from 11,523 at the 2000 census. It is located east of Palmdale's Civic Center. According to the ...

(12,328) * Lancaster (159,053) *

(2,632) * Lenwood (3,543) * Leona Valley (1,607) * Littlerock (1,377) *

Llano ''Llano'' is the Spanish word for plain. It may refer to: * Llano, California * Llano Estacado, a region in northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico * Llano, Texas, a small city in Llano County, Texas * Llano County, Texas * Llano River, a Texas r ...

(1,201) * Lone Pine (2,035) * Lucerne Valley (5,811) *

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The ...

(10) * Mojave (4,238) *

Mountain Pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both human and animal migr ...

(8) * Mountain View Acres (3,130) * Nebo Center (1,174) * Needles (4,982) * Neenach (800) * Newberry Springs (1,280) * Nipton (28) * North Edwards (1,058) * Oak Hills (8,879) * Oro Grande (974) * Palmdale (156,667) * Pearblossom (2,435) * Phelan (14,304) * Piñon Hills (7,272) * Pioneertown (350) * Quartz Hill (10,912) * Ragtown (0) *

Randsburg Randsburg (formerly Rand Camp) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. Randsburg is located south of Ridgecrest, at an elevation of . The population was 69 in the 2010 census, down from 77 in the 2000 cens ...

(69) * Ridgecrest (28,940) * Rosamond (18,150) *

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

(0) * Sunfair (288) * Sunfair Heights (149) * Sun Village (11,565) * Three Points (200) *

Trona Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate, also sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate, Na2CO3•2NaHCO3•3H2O) is a non- marine evaporite mineral. It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has repla ...

(2,742) * Twentynine Palms (26,418) * Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base (8,413) * Valyermo (450) * Victorville (122,312) * Vidal Junction (17) * Yermo (4,200) * Yucca Valley (21,726)

Major highways

State Route 2 The following highways are numbered 2. For roads numbered A2, see list of A2 roads. For roads numbered B2, see list of B2 roads. For roads numbered M2, see list of M2 roads. For roads numbered N2, see list of N2 roads. International * AH2, As ...

/ Angeles Crest Highway * California 14

State Route 14 /

Antelope Valley Freeway The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mamm ...

Interstate 15 * California 18

State Route 18 * I-40 (CA)

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...

State Route 58 / Tehachapi Freeway * California 62

State Route 62 * US 95 (1961 cutout)

U.S. Route 95 * California 127

State Route 127 * California 136

State Route 136 * California 138

State Route 138 /

Pearblossom Highway State Route 138 (SR 138) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that generally follows the northern foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and the western Mojave Desert. The scenic highway begins in the west at its ...

State Route 178 * California 190

State Route 190 * California 247

State Route 247 * US 395 (CA)

U.S. Route 395 U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a U.S. Route in the western United States. The southern terminus of the route is in the Mojave Desert at Interstate 15 near Hesperia. The northern terminus is at the Canada–US border near Laurier, where the road ...

In the arts

Literature

Louis L'Amour Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels (though he called his work "frontier stories"); however, he also wrote hi ...

's Western novel ''The Lonesome Gods'' uses features of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts in its narrative.

Motion pictures

;Popular filming sites: *The

Alabama Hills The Alabama Hills are a range of hills and rock formations near the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada in the Owens Valley, west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California. Though geographically separate from the Sierra Nevada, they are part o ...

and Red Rock Canyon have been

filming location A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film crew wi ...

s for numerous Westerns. *Boomtowns that prospered during Route 66 and railroad travel in the early 20th century including Amboy, Cima and

, and are also used in principal photography and location shots. * Southern California Logistics Airport (

George Air Force Base George Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base located within the city limits, 8 miles northwest, of central Victorville, California, about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. Established by the United States Army Air C ...

, decommissioned in 1992) is used often for military dramas and action films. ;Exemplary projects *''

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

'' (1939), Lucerne Valley *'' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'' (1948), Red Rock Canyon State Park (California)− *''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populate ...

'' (1973), Red Rock Canyon State Park *'' Bagdad Cafe'' (1987), Newberry Springs *''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...

'' (1993), Red Rock Canyon State Park *''

Casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...

'' (1995), Palmdale *''

Contact Contact may refer to: Interaction Physical interaction * Contact (geology), a common geological feature * Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye * Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects * C ...

'' (1997), Adelanto *''

Face/Off ''Face/Off'' is a 1997 American science fiction action thriller film directed by John Woo, written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, and starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The first Hollywood film in which Woo was given major creativ ...

'' (1997), Victorville *'' Jarhead'' (2005), Victorville *''

Valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ("chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"Orchard (1997: ...

'' (2008), Victorville ;Films using High Desert as a subject of the narrative: *'' Erin Brockovich'' (2000), centered on the

PG&E The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 millio ...

environmental disaster in the town of Hinkley west of Barstow. *'' The Right Stuff'' (1983), based on the 1979 non-fiction book by

Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...

about the pilots engaged in U.S. postwar research with experimental rocket-powered, high-speed aircraft at

as well as documenting the stories of the first Project Mercury astronauts selected for the NASA space program. *''

Space Cowboys ''Space Cowboys'' is a 2000 American adventure drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood. It stars Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner as four older "ex-test pilots" who are sent into space to repair an ol ...

'' (2000), one of many examples that feature

in the 1940s used in experimental test flights and for shuttle landings with the NASA Space Program.

References

External links

High Desert BroadcastingHigh Desert Edge WebcastHigh Desert InformationHigh Desert News
{{Coord, 34.8, -117.6, region:US-CA_type:landmark_dim:200km, display=title Deserts of California * Regions of California Geography of San Bernardino County, California Geography of Riverside County, California Geography of Southern California Southern California