One place I keep thinking about visiting is Kelso Dunes. It's out in the middle of the Mojave Desert, and there's no services or much of anything near by, so I never quite bother to drive off the interstate when I'm driving by. Today I decided to take the detour, since the Vegas to LA traffic was fairly light and I had a little extra time. The Mojave isn't exactly hospitable in the summer, even this early in the summer, and since I didn't have all that much time, I figured I'd drive by, take a couple of pictures and continue on my way. I hadn't quite reckoned on a 3 mile wash-board gravel road, or the fact that you have to walk to get to the dunes themselves. I walked part-way out to them (it really isn't that far) but wasn't prepared for hiking in the desert so turned around before I got very far. It was actually quite interesting, for some reason not quite what I was expecting.
While the area around the dunes is typical Mojave Desert, the dunes themselves look pretty empty of anything living:
But it actually is home to a number of creatures, such as the Mojave Fringed Toed Lizard:
I don't know who lives in this home, perhaps a desert kangaroo rat?
I hope I'll take the time to return to the dunes in the cooler months, and next time I'll go prepared to hike and spend some time exploring. It really is an interesting, isolated spot.