Revised & Expanded edition includes GPS Coordinates, individual site maps, and additional photographs not included in the first printing.A lonely cabin nestled inside of a deserted canyon, a wall of ancient rock art left undisturbed throughout the ages, a pile of forgotten relics left to rust and shimmer in the sun these are the secret places of the Mojave Desert. Death Valley Jim has taken his interest in these secret places to a hobby, to a passion, to his life. Jim initially began visiting these places casually while on vacation to visit his family. A love affair with the desert was forged soon thereafter, compelling him to move to this wonderland, filled with rich history and mystery. Death Valley Jim is now a resident and historian of the Mojave and his dream is to be able to spark the same kind of passion and interest in the desert for others. Whether you're new to the Mojave Desert or a longtime resident, this book will reveal the story about the places and people that made these mysteries possible. Perhaps you will find your favorite secret place or discover some new places you've never heard of. A few of the places contained within these pages are: the lonely mountain ghost town of Lookout City, the strangely interesting Saltdale, Llano Del Rio (located within civilization, yet somehow far removed), the mysterious Sheep Springs Petroglyphs, lonely Goler, the slowly disappearing Ruth Mine, and many, many more. Historians, archeological enthusiasts, amateur prospectors and mining enthusiasts, tourists, and local residents alike are invited to join Death Valley Jim in following him in the footsteps of those who blazed the trails of one of the most unique places in the world known as the Mojave Desert. The secret places are here for you to discover, now you just have to find them.

The cult-y pocket-size field guide to the strange and intriguing secrets of the Mojave—its myths and legends, outcasts and oddballs, flora, fauna, and UFOs—becomes the definitive, oracular book of the desert For the past five years, Desert Oracle has existed as a quasi-mythical, quarterly periodical available to the very determined only by subscription or at the odd desert-town gas station or the occasional hipster boutique, its canary-yellow-covered, forty-four-page issues handed from one curious desert zealot to the next, word spreading faster than the printers could keep up with. It became a radio show, a podcast, a live performance. Now, for the first time—and including both classic and new, never-before-seen revelations—Desert Oracle has been bound between two hard covers and is available to you. Straight out of Joshua Tree, California, Desert Oracle is “The Voice of the Desert”: a field guide to the strange tales, singing sand dunes, sagebrush trails, artists and aliens, authors and oddballs, ghost towns and modern legends, musicians and mystics, scorpions and saguaros, out there in the sand. Desert Oracle is your companion at a roadside diner, around a campfire, in your tent or cabin (or high-rise apartment or suburban living room) as the wind and the coyotes howl outside at night. From journal entries of long-deceased adventurers to stray railroad ad copy, and musings on everything from desert flora, rumored cryptid sightings, and other paranormal phenomena, Ken Layne's Desert Oracle collects the weird and the wonderful of the American Southwest into a single, essential volume.

Mojave Desert Trails explores some of the most interesting historic and geological sites in the Mojave Desert. Ecologically and environmentally diverse, the Mojave Desert encompasses a dramatic and enchanting landscape of ancient volcanic cinder cones, Joshua tree forests, sand dunes and rugged mountains. Weather in the Mojave changes as dramatically as its terrain: triple digits from late spring to early fall with winter temps often dropping below freezing. A wet winter, with both rain and snow, will prepare the Mojave Desert for a spectacular display of spring flowers.

Winner of the Spur Award for Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary Winner of the LA Press Club Award for Best General Nonfiction On a scorching summer day, Donald Kueck-a desert hermit who loved animals and hated civilization-gunned down beloved deputy sheriff Stephen Sorensen when he approached his trailer. As the sound of rifle fire echoed across the Mojave, Kueck vanished. In Desert Reckoning, Deanne Stillman recounts a tragic tale, delving into the hidden history of Los Angeles County and tracing the paths of two men on a collision course that could only end in the modern Wild West.

In a world filled with breathtaking beauty, we have often overlooked the elusive magic of certain landscapes. A cloudy river flows into an Arctic wetland where sandhill cranes and muskoxen dwell. Further south, cypress branches hang low over dismal swamps. Places like these-collectively known as swamplands or peatlands-often go unnoticed for their ecological splendor. They are as globally significant as rainforests, yet, because of their reputation as wastelands, they are being systematically drained and degraded. Swamplands celebrates these wild places, as journalist Edward Struzik highlights the unappreciated struggle to save peatlands by scientists, conservationists, and landowners around the world. An ode to peaty landscapes in all their offbeat glory, the book is also a demand for awareness of the myriad threats they face. It inspires us to see the beauty and importance in these least likely of places­. Our planet's survival might depend on it.