American Indians were the first humans in the California desert ... The 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s saw a dramatic explosion of desert-town populations as well as off-road vehicle use. In 1976, Congress ...

urban areas and road trips. As the weather turns chilly (and eventually snowy) in much of the northern hemisphere, it’s time to start thinking about a sun-splashed California desert getaway.

Covering more than 25 million acres — about a fourth of California — the geologically diverse ... hundreds of miles of so-called “open wash zones” for off-road vehicles in desert tortoise habitat in ...