POWDERMILL IV - DESERT TRAVELOGUE 1999 Field Trip to Afton Canyon Home of "extreme" Clemmys marmorata Prepared by Jeff Lovich

DISCLAIMER - This travelogue was created off the top of my head. All the facts are correct to the best of my knowledge and recollection. Not being a geologist, paleontologist, or certified historian, I encourage you to seek out details greater than presented here in the numerous fantastic references available on this region. Good places to start include "Mojave: America's Definitive Desert" by David Darlington (published recently), and "The Desert's Past: a Natural Prehistory of the Great Basin" (Smithsonian Institution Press) by Donald Grayson.

1. Leaving Laughlin, Nevada

As we climb out of the valley of the Colorado River (about 504 feet above sea level in Laughlin) we are crossing a transition zone between the Mojave and Colorado Deserts. The Colorado Desert is a subdivision of the more familiar Sonoran Desert. Although both the Colorado and the Mojave share many plant species (e.g., creosote bush and burrobush), some are unique to each. Visually conspicuous plants in most of the Colorado Desert include several "trees" such as smoke tree, palo verde, and ironwood. Cactus are also more common in the Colorado Desert than they are in the Mojave. You will see some groves of teddy bear or jumping cholla as we go up the grade, one plant that is common in the Colorado Desert, but absent from the Mojave. The Mojave has slightly higher elevation and this translates into "cooler" temperatures relative to the Colorado Desert. Snow is not uncommon in the Mojave, especially at higher elevations whereas it is almost unheard of in the Colorado Desert. Visually dominant plants in the Mojave include Mojave yucca and, in a narrow belt around 3,000 feet, Joshua Trees, both in the lily family. Joshua trees were named by early Mormon settlers to the region who saw the outstretched "arms" of Joshua trees as the image of the Prophet Joshua welcoming them to the promised land.

You'll see oceans of creosote bush in all the valleys we drive through today. This is the visually dominant desert species from the western edge of the Mojave all the way through the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts into Trans-Pecos Texas. Clonal rings of this species are estimated to be over 11,000 years old, making it the longest-lived organism on the planet. It arrived in North America only about 14,000 years ago, probably as a seed stuck in the feathers of a plover, from South American deserts where several species occur (it is found no where else in the world.). The paleoecology of this species is well-documented based on fossilized packrat midden analysis and palynology.

Spirit Mountain is visible on your right as we climb up Highway 163 through the Newberry Mountains toward Christmas Tree Pass. Grapevine Canyon on the north side of the mountain is the site of a USGS tortoise survivorship study by Dr. Chuck Douglas who is stationed at UN Las Vegas. The rocky outcrops are great habitat for chuckwallas and host to many petroglyphs left by Native Americans.

2. Highway 95

You are now in the Mojave Desert. Some of the washes in the lower part of the broad valley on your left have fingers of Colorado Desert vegetation, especially smoke trees. This valley is fine desert tortoise habitat. Chemehuevi and Ward Valleys are to the south. As we travel north we are driving along the eastern edge of California's "Lonely Triangle," that area of the Mojave circumscribed by Interstates 15 and 40, and the Colorado River. For the most part it's a big empty, but it's within a days drive of about 40 million people (including Phoenix, Las Vegas, southern California). The mountains to the west (Piute Range) approximate the eastern boundary of the Mojave National Preserve (1.6 million acres) created by Act of Congress in 1994 and administered by the National Park Service. Formerly known as the East Mojave National Scenic Area, the area ranges from creosote bush dominated flats in low areas to pinyon pine and juniper woodlands in higher elevations. Sand dunes, volcanic cinder cones, Joshua tree forests, vast vistas and mile-high mountains help define this amazing area within the Mojave Desert.

The Mojave is the smallest of the 3 deserts (4 if you include the Navahoan or Painted Desert of Arizona) found in North America (the other two are the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts). However, it has plenty of superlatives. It is distinguished by proximity to the highest point in the coterminous U.S. (Mt. Whitney 14,494 feet), the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere (Badwater in Death Valley National Park -282 feet), the second highest temperature ever recorded on the planet (134.6 F at Death Valley: 136+ F has been recorded in Libya), and the oldest living organism on the planet (creosote clonal rings at 11,000+ years).

3. Searchlight, Nevada

As we turn west on Highway 164 to cross through a pass between Nevada's McCullogh Range and California's New York Mountains. The New York's are one of the prominent "sky island's" in the Mojave. The high peaks are around 7,000 feet and contain relic populations of white fir. Other sky islands in the Mojave include the Clark, Providence, Granite, Kingston, and Spring Mountains. Scattered gila monster records exist for several of these areas. Although common in the Sonoran Desert and the northeastern corner of the Mojave in southwestern Utah, there are only around a dozen gila monster records for the rest of the Mojave in California.

4. Nipton, California

This little town is in the bottom of Ivanpah Valley, home of famous desert tortoise studies by Phil Medica, Fred Turner, Brian Henen, Hal Avery, Chuck Peterson, and Ken Nagy. Hal and Phil continue research on the reproductive ecology of desert tortoises just up the valley (south) from Nipton. The dusty area to the north is Ivanpah Dry Lake. During the Pleistocene all of these desert basins were filled with water and the surrounding areas were covered in Joshua tree, pinyon/juniper woodlands. Paleo Indian encampments were located along the shorelines. The waters receded as the climate became hotter and drier isolating scattered populations of desert fish, amphibians, and turtles including Clemmys marmorata, western toads (Bufo boreas), desert pupfish (many species), Mojave chubs and speckled dace.

5. Interstate 15

Las Vegas is to the north about 50 miles, with 1.5 million people (and growing). At the top of the grade on I-15 is Mountain Pass, home of the Molycorp Mine one of the most important mines in the United States for various rare earth minerals. The Ivanpah Mountains and Mescal Range are to the south and the Clark Mountains (almost 8,000 feet) are on the north. The Ivanpah Mountains contain the only known dinosaur tracks in California. The Clarks are the highest mountains in California's East Mojave. Like the New Yorks they have groves of relic white fir. A gila monster record exists for the range as well.

6. Shadow Valley

Dropping out of Mountain Pass reveals the broad expanse of Shadow Valley. To the south is the huge and almost imperceptible curve of Cima Dome, home of the largest Joshua Tree forest in the world. Cima Dome was produced by volcanic processes that pushed the earth up into the huge bubble you see on the horizon. Astronauts for the Apollo moon mission trained on the lava beds and cinder cones that characterize this remarkable area. We are still traveling through good tortoise habitat.

7. Baker, California

Cresting Halloran Summit we begin the long descent into the Baker or Soda trough. This is a very low valley for the Mojave and contains elements of the Colorado Desert. The depression continues to the north running through Death Valley, continuing as the Lahonton Trough, and allowing invasion of southern desert species like the long-nosed snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei) far into the higher and colder Great Basin Desert. Soda Dry Lake is seen on the south side of the interstate. This is the terminus of the Mojave River which originates far to the west in the San Bernardino Mountains (rising to over 11,000 feet above Riverside and San Bernardino, California).

Baker is the self-proclaimed gateway to Death Valley National Park about 50 miles to the north. Note the "world's largest thermometer." With temperature exceeding 120 F every summer, they probably need it.

The northern Mojave is part of the "Great Basin" named by famous explorer and political aspirant John C. Fremont. All of the basins in this area are internally drained with no outlet to the ocean. Although this is a hydrographic definition, biologists also recognize a floristic province known as the Great Basin Desert. This is America's cold desert characterized by oceans of sagebrush, greasewood and other shrubs. The largest desert in the United States, most of the Great Basin is found in Nevada with portions in California, Oregon, Utah, and Idaho.

Jedediah Strong Smith and his group of Rocky Mountain beaver trappers passed through here in the early 1800's on what became known as the Mojave Road. They were the first Anglos to cross the Mojave being preceded only by Father Garces who earned that distinction for the Spaniards. Smith and his followers were looking for the fabled (non-existent) "Buena Ventura River," a supposed shangri-la for beavers. Hitting the Mojave on the Virgin River near St. George, Utah, they were amazed at the "new" landscape before them. They were continually thirsty and hungry as they crossed this hostile landscape on foot and horseback, implying that game (including desert tortoises) were likely scarce, even in the "good old days." They buried themselves in sand at night to keep cool. Picking up the Mojave River here, they continued into the Spanish settlement of San Bernardino, California (about 100 miles west). Thinking them to be American spies, the Spanish Commandant threw them into jail. Upon release Smith was instructed to leave by the same way they had come. Leaving San Bernardino, Smith got to the top of Cajon Pass, took one look at the Mojave with his men, and hightailed it north into the San Joaquin Valley (or Great Central Valley of California). They were arrested again near Sacramento. The U.S. ambassador secured their release and they left in the fall to cross back to Salt Lake City over the Sierra Nevada Mountains! Eating their horses to stay alive (they did better than the Donner Party who would eventually follow from the other direction!) and barely making it through the high passes of the winter Sierra they finally made it to the equally inhospitable Blackrock Desert of northern Nevada. Traveling through the Humboldt Sink (one of the wildest inhospitable places on the planet) they crossed over into the Sevier Desert of Utah and eventually back to Salt Lake. Smith was a tough guy and I'm convinced that exploits such as his would kill most, if not all, 20th century humans who attempted a similar trek, even hard core field biologists like us. As I recall, his life ended when he was killed by a Comanche in Texas.

8. Zzyzx Road exit

Located as the base of the Soda Mountains on the shore of Soda Dry Lake, Zzyzx is home of a teaching and research facility (Desert Studies Center) operated by the California State University System. This was not always the case. Earlier in the century a Los Angeles preacher/health food purveyor named "Doc" Springer began filing claims with the Bureau of Land Management in the area, eventually holding patent to thousands of acres. He set up modest salt-extraction facilities on the premises, but his real intent was the development of a health resort. He wanted his line of products and the resort to be the "last word" in health so he coined the name "Zzyzx" to facilitate that objective. He began busing homeless people from Los Angeles to help build the facility and began to promote his offerings vigorously by radio and newspaper. Realizing his intentions were less than intended under his mining patents, the U.S. government began a lengthy litigation that concluded with his arrest in the 1970's as I recall. He died shortly thereafter and the facilities eventually fell under management by the California State University. If you ever get a chance to visit, it's a neat place. The spring on the property is also home to the only native and genetically pure stock of the federally endangered Mojave or Tui chub (Gila bicolor) in the world. Rob Fulton, the resident caretaker is a huge Jedediah Strong Smith history buff (as I am), and a great source of information on desert history.

As we cross Zzyzx Road you will see smoke trees growing in the wash representing a northern finger of Colorado Desert plant life.

9. Rasor Road exit

The Mojave River flows through here in El Niño years. Look into the Cronise Mountains on the north side of the freeway to see "Hanging Cat" dune. Afton Canyon is upriver on the south side of the freeway. The rocky peak on the south side of the freeway is Cave Mountain (3585 feet).

10. Afton Canyon

Welcome to the "Grand Canyon of the Mojave" and home to the "Jedidiah Strong Smith variety" of pond turtles. I'll tell you more about the geology and natural history of this area when we stop. We'll be meeting my field crew here to check traps for Clemmys at our study site. We have animals equipped with radios so we will do some tracking as well. Be prepared to get wet and muddy. A water spigot is available at the campground you'll see and we can do rudimentary cleanup there. The most dangerous thing you are likely to encounter are the cut stems of the invasive exotic plant saltcedar, or tamarisk. These are like pungee sticks so you won't want to fall on them. Rattlesnakes are in the area and sidewinders are not uncommon on the fluvial sand dunes in the river bed. Keep your eyes peeled: this region is the home of the Mojave rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus), the most dangerous rattler in the U.S. In California, its venom is highly neurotoxic and 10 times more potent than any of the other rattlers in the country. All bites from this species are serious as a heart attack and you WILL BE medevac'd if you are bitten.