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Quail Mountain (California)
Quail Mountain, at , is the highest mountain in Joshua Tree National Park and the highest point in the Little San Bernardino Mountains of the very southern reach of the Mojave Desert. It is one of the southernmost peaks in the Transverse Ranges, with the Peninsular Ranges just across the Colorado Desert and Coachella Valley. Trails The mountain can be reached by foot from almost any direction. The regular route utilizes the California Riding and Hiking Trail starting from Keys View road and traverses barren, burned desert to Juniper Flats. From there it is about more of cross-country hiking to the flat summit which is marked by a large cairn. There are no trails to the summit, all routes involve cross-country hiking. The best times to hike the peak are Fall, Winter and Spring. Winter can be very cold and windy, and summer is very hot and not recommended. Fall (October–December) is probably the safest time to visit the peak. Watch for rattlesnakes in the spring. There is no w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hundred Peaks Section
The Hundred Peaks Section (HPS) is a mountaineering society within the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club that serves to provide mountaineering activities for Sierra Club members in the southern Sierra Nevada, the Transverse Ranges, and the Peninsular Ranges, and to honor mountaineers who have summited peaks in those mountain ranges. The section hosts summit hikes and scrambles in the Los Angeles and Inland Empire area 3 to 4 times per week. These hikes are open to the public. History The Hundred Peaks Section is the second-oldest of the Angeles Chapter mountaineer sections, and is its most active. It was started by outdoorsman Weldon Fairbanks Heald (1901-1967) in 1941, who wanted to summit 100 peaks in Southern California. Membership To become a member of the HPS, one must be a Sierra Club member and have climbed at least 25 peaks on the HPS List and subscribe to the section newsletter, ''The Lookout''. Especially accomplished members are awarded with ''emblems'', with the follo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yucca Brevifolia
''Yucca brevifolia'' is a plant species belonging to the genus ''Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca. This monocotyledonous tree is native to the arid Southwestern United States, specifically California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, and to northwestern Mexico It is confined mostly to the Mojave Desert between elevation. It thrives in the open grasslands of Queen Valley and Lost Horse Valley in Joshua Tree National Park. Other regions with large populations of the tree can be found northeast of Kingman, Arizona in Mohave County; and along U.S. 93 between the towns of Wickenburg and Wikieup, a route which has been designated the Joshua Tree Parkway of Arizona. The common name Joshua tree apparently comes from Christian iconography. Taxonomy The Joshua tree is also called ''izote de desierto'' (Spanish, "desert dagger"). It was first formally described in the botanical literature as ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protected Areas Of The Colorado Desert
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as bark (botany), bark on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like Scale (anatomy), scales and hair offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protected Areas Of The Mojave Desert
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as bark (botany), bark on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like Scale (anatomy), scales and hair offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protected Areas Of Riverside County, California
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as bark on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like scales and hair offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such as spines or camouflage servin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountains Of Riverside County, California
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher than a hill, typically rising at least 300 metres (1,000 feet) above the surrounding land. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism, which act on time scales of up to tens of millions of years. Once mountain building ceases, mountains are slowly leveled through the action of weathering, through slumping and other forms of mass wasting, as well as through erosion by rivers and glaciers. High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level at similar latitude. These colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains: different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert Ecology
Desert ecology is the study of interactions between both biotic and abiotic components of desert environments. A desert ecosystem is defined by interactions between organisms, the climate in which they live, and any other non-living influences on the habitat. Deserts are arid regions that are generally associated with warm temperatures; however, cold deserts also exist. Deserts can be found in every continent, with the largest deserts located in Antarctica, the Arctic, Northern Africa, and the Middle East. Climate Deserts experience a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions, and can be classified into four types: hot, semiarid, coastal, and cold. Hot deserts experience warm temperatures year round, and low annual precipitation. Low levels of humidity in hot deserts contribute to high daytime temperatures, and extensive night time heat loss. The average annual temperature in hot deserts is approximately 20 to 25 °C, however, extreme weather conditions can lead to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deserts And Xeric Shrublands
Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this habitat type vary greatly in the amount of annual rainfall they receive, usually less than annually except in the margins. Generally evaporation exceeds rainfall in these ecoregions. Temperature variability is also diverse in these lands. Many deserts, such as the Sahara, are hot year-round, but others, such as East Asia's Gobi, become quite cold in winter. Temperature extremes are a characteristic of most deserts. High daytime temperatures give way to cold nights because there is no insulation provided by humidity and cloud cover. The diversity of climatic conditions, though quite harsh, supports a rich array of habitats. Many of these habitats are ephemeral in nature, reflecting the paucity and seasonality of available water. Woody-ste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California Montane Chaparral And Woodlands
The California montane chaparral and woodlands is an ecoregion defined by the World Wildlife Fund, spanning of mountains in the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and Coast Ranges of southern and central California. The ecoregion is part of the larger California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, and belongs to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. Geography The ecoregion spreads from low foothills up to the highest peaks of the following ranges: San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains, San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Susana Mountains, Santa Monica Mountains, Sierra Pelona, Topatopa Mountains, Tehachapi Mountains, San Rafael Mountains, Santa Ynez Mountains, and the long Santa Lucia Mountains. The wide elevation range and characteristic climate produce a variety of natural communities, from chaparral to mixed evergreen forest to alpine tundra. File:Angelesnationalforest.jpg, Montane woodlands in the San Gabriel Mountains File:Vasquez Rocks chaparral. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert Bighorn Sheep
The desert bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') that is native to the deserts of the United States' intermountain west and southwestern regions, as well as northwestern Mexico. The Bureau of Land Management considered the subspecies "sensitive" to extinction. The trinomial of this species commemorates the American naturalist Edward William Nelson (1855–1934). The characteristics and behavior of the desert bighorn sheep generally follow those of other bighorn sheep, except for adaptation to the lack of water in the desert. They can go for extended periods of time without drinking water. The desert bighorn sheep is the state mammal of Nevada. It is also the mascot of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Distribution The range of the desert bighorn sheep includes habitats in the Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, Great Basin Desert, and Chihuahuan Desert, as well as the Colorado Plateau. Anza-Borrego Desert State ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire(bushfires in Australia, in Australia), desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, prairie fire, vegetation fire, or veld fire. Fire ecology, Some natural forest ecosystems depend on wildfire. Wildfires are distinct from beneficial human usage of wildland fire, called controlled burn, controlled burning, although controlled burns can turn into wildfires. Fossil charcoal indicates that wildfires began soon after the appearance of terrestrial plants approximately 419 million years ago during the Silurian period. Earth's carbon-rich vegetation, seasonally dry climates, atmospheric oxygen, and widespread lightning and volcanic ignitions create favorable conditions for fires. The occurre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Dumosa
''Quercus dumosa'' is a species of plant in the family Fagaceae, belonging to the white oak section of the oak genus (''Quercus''). This tree goes by the common names coastal sage scrub oak and Nuttall's scrub oak. Description ''Quercus dumosa'' is an evergreen shrub growing 1 to 3 metres (40–120 inches or 3–10 feet) tall from a large, deep root network. The leaves have spiny or toothed edges. The fruit is an acorn up to wide. Some individuals produce large crops of acorns, and some produce very few fruits. The acorns are dispersed by gravity as they fall from the tree, and by animals that pick them up, such as squirrels and jays. Animals eat them immediately or cache them for later. The acorns tend to germinate easily. Reproduction via seed generally occurs only in very moist years. Taxonomy The name ''Quercus dumosa'' was formerly widely applied to nearly all the scrub oaks of the white oak group of California and Baja California. The concept of this species has gradual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
