Ridgecrest is a city in

Kern County, California Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County compris ...

, United States, along U.S. Route 395 in the

Indian Wells Valley Indian Wells Valley is an arid north–south basin in east-central California. In the geologic sense, it is a southern extension of Owens Valley to the north, with the recent volcanics of the Coso Range being the separator. It is defined by a maj ...

in northeastern Kern County, adjacent to the

Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy. It is part of Navy Region Southwest under Commander, Navy Instal ...

(NAWS, or China Lake). It was incorporated as a city in 1963. The population was 27,959 at the 2020 census, up slightly from 27,616 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city in Kern County. Ridgecrest is surrounded by four

mountain 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 t ...

ranges; the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

on the west, the Coso Range on the north, the

Argus Range The Argus Range is a mountain range located primarily in Inyo County, California, southeast of the town of Darwin. The range forms the western boundary of Panamint Valley, and the northwestern boundary of Searles Valley. The Coso Range is loc ...

on the east, and the

El Paso Mountains The El Paso Mountains are located in the northern Mojave Desert, in central Southern California in the Western United States. Geography The range lies in a southwest-northeasterly direction east of State Route 14, and north of the Rand Mountains ...

on the south. The most isolated community in Kern county, it is approximately from the

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

Palmdale Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the Antelope Valley of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On August 24, 1962 ...

area, from

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of the ...

, and from

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

, the three nearest major urban centers. Private air travel in and out of the city is provided through the

Inyokern Airport Inyokern Airport is a public use airport located northwest of the central business district of Inyokern, in Kern County, California, United States. It is owned by the Indian Wells Valley Airport District and serves the Indian Wells Valley area ...

. There are currently no scheduled commercial flights. The city has been near the epicenter of major

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s, including one in 1995 and a series of quakes in July 2019.

History

Native American tribes of the Paiute,

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

, and

Kawaiisu The Kawaiisu Nation (pronounced: "ka-wai-ah-soo") are a tribe of indigenous people of California in the United States. The Kawaiisu Nation is the only treatied tribe in California, Ratified Treaty (No. 256), 9 Stat. 984, Dec. 30, 1849. This Tr ...

thrived in the Indian Wells Valley. The Shoshone tribe left behind petroglyphs in the Coso Range that can be found in Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons. Their petroglyphs and artwork are displayed in the Maturango Museum and Petroglyph Park. During the mid-1800s, travelers began crossing through the Indian Wells Valley. In 1826, Jedediah Smith's beaver trappers arrived, followed in 1834 by Joseph Walker when he crossed

Walker Pass Walker Pass (el. ) is a mountain pass by Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada. It is located in northeastern Kern County, approximately 53 mi (85 km) ENE of Bakersfield and 10 mi (16 km) WNW of Ridgecrest. The pass pro ...

into the Indian Wells Valley. Throughout the rest of the nineteenth century,

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

booms brought more settlers to the valley. In the 1880s, Chinese railroad workers briefly settled in the area, giving local

China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy. It is part of Navy Region So ...

its name. Until the twentieth century, non-permanent settlers had arrived and traveled throughout the Indian Wells Valley. This changed, however, when the

Los Angeles Aqueduct The Los Angeles Aqueduct system, comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct (Owens Valley aqueduct) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct, is a water conveyance system, built and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The Owens Valley ...

was built and finished from 1908–1913. This, plus the arrival of the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

brought lasting settlers to the Indian Wells Valley. The settlement that eventually became Ridgecrest began as a farming community called Crumville in 1912, honoring James and Robert Crum, local dairymen. The first post office opened in 1941. By 1943, Ridgecrest had grown to 115 homes and 196 residents. The Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) was established in November 1943, providing a strong job base for the years to come. Ridgecrest incorporated in 1963. During this era the growth of Ridgecrest was governed by the continuing needs of the high tech industries coupled to the Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) programs for testing arms and guidance systems. Today, the city serves as an essential housing and business community for NAWS China Lake.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and of it (3.04%) is water. Ridgecrest is located in Indian Wells Valley, which is a southern extension of

Owens Valley Owens Valley (Mono language (California), Mono: ''Payahǖǖnadǖ'', meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra ...

, broken up by the volcanic

Coso Range The Coso Range of eastern California is located immediately south of Owens Lake, east of the Sierra Nevada, and west of the Argus Range. The southern part of the range lies in the restricted Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and the northern pa ...

1995 earthquake

The area, associated with the Eastern California Shear Zone, has in the past experienced numerous

earthquake swarm In seismology, an earthquake swarm is a sequence of seismic events occurring in a local area within a relatively short period. The time span used to define a swarm varies, but may be days, months, or years. Such an energy release is different fr ...

s, groups of several thousand quakes under magnitude 6.0 or so, often with no obvious mainshock. The 1995 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence started on August 17, when a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

5.4 quake, centered north of the town of Ridgecrest, shook the area and spawned over 2,500

aftershocks In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in the same area of the main shock, caused as the displaced crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthquakes can have hundreds to thousands ...

over the course of the following five weeks. Then, on September 20, 1995, the second large quake struck the area: it measured

5.8, and was at that time the largest earthquake to hit

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

since the

1994 Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake affected Greater Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1994, at 04:30:55 PST. The epicenter of the moment 6.7 () blind thrust earthquake was beneath the San Fernando Valley. Lasting approximately 8 seconds ...

2019 earthquakes

Between July 4 and 5, 2019, the city of Ridgecrest and surrounding communities experienced a series of significant earthquakes, including the strongest to impact the area in decades—a magnitude 7.1 mainshock. The epicenter of the main earthquake was located approximately 10 miles northeast of Ridgecrest. The sequence began on July 4 with a 4.0-magnitude quake approximately southwest of

Searles Valley Searles Valley is a valley in the northern Mojave Desert of California, with the northern half in Inyo County and the southern half in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Searles Valley is located between the Argus Range to the ...

. Later that morning, at 10:33 A.M., a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck around southwest of Searles Valley. This initial sequence triggered over 1,400 aftershocks in the Ridgecrest and Searles Valley regions. On July 5, 2019, at 8:19 P.M., the magnitude 7.1 mainshock, known as the Ridgecrest mainshock occurred, significantly impacting the Ridgecrest area.

Climate

The weather in the

is predominantly influenced by its high desert location. The climate is characterized by hot days and cool nights with extremely arid conditions prevailing throughout the summer months. The mean annual maximum

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...

for the Ridgecrest area is while the mean annual minimum temperature is . There are wide annual temperature fluctuations that occur from a high of to a low of . On average, annual rainfall is less than "equivalent rainfall" per year, which includes less than of

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

. The area is known to have wind as high as . December is the coolest month with an average maximum temperature of and an average minimum temperature of . The all-time minimum temperature of was recorded on December 23, 1963, and January 7, 1973. July is the hottest month with an average maximum temperature of and an average minimum temperature of . The all-time maximum temperature of was recorded on July 11, 2021, tied with July 1988 and July 1993.

Demographics

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Ridgecrest had a population of 27,616. The population density was . The racial makeup of Ridgecrest was 21,387 (77.4%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1,113 (4.0%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 341 (1.2%) Native American, 1,209 (4.4%) Asian, 143 (0.5%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1,836 (6.6%) from other races, and 1,587 (5.7%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 4,941 persons (17.9%). The Census reported that 27,420 people (99.3% of the population) lived in households, 109 (0.4%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 87 (0.3%) were institutionalized.There were 10,781 households, out of which 3,901 (36.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 5,211 (48.3%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,352 (12.5%) had a female householder with no husband present, 609 (5.6%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 681 (6.3%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 64 (0.6%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 2,978 households (27.6%) were made up of individuals, and 1,001 (9.3%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54. There were 7,172

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(66.5% of all households); the average family size was 3.10. The population was spread out, with 7,544 people (27.3%) under the age of 18, 2,654 people (9.6%) aged 18 to 24, 7,157 people (25.9%) aged 25 to 44, 6,844 people (24.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 3,417 people (12.4%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.9 males. There were 11,915 housing units at an average density of , of which 6,525 (60.5%) were owner-occupied, and 4,256 (39.5%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.9%; the rental vacancy rate was 9.2%. 16,520 people (59.8% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 10,900 people (39.5%) lived in rental housing units.

2000

According to the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 24,927 people, 9,826 households, and 6,691 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 11,309 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 82.02%

, 3.53%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 1.08% Native American, 3.88% Asian, 0.58%

, 4.93% from other races, and 3.98% from two or more races. 12.04% of the population were

or Latino of any race. There were 9,826 households, out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.9% were non-families. 27.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.06. In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.1% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.9 males. The median income for a household in the city was $44,971, and the median income for a family was $52,725. Males had a median income of $46,993 versus $29,558 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $21,312. About 10.2% of families and 12.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 17.5% of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those age 65 or over. *Crime index: 40.0% safe city *High school or higher: 87.4% *Bachelor's degree or higher: 24.4% *Graduate or professional degree: 8.5% *Unemployed: 6.8% *Mean travel time to work: 14.9 minutes *Never married: 22.1% *Now married: 56.7% *Separated: 2.6% *Widowed: 6.6% *Divorced: 12.1% *Males: 12,924 – (49.9%) *Females: 12,971 – (50.1%) *Median resident age: 35.5 years *California median age: 33.3 years People in group quarters: *987 people in military barracks, etc. *87 people in nursing homes *33 people in other non-institutional group quarters *22 people in state prisons

Economy

(NAWS China Lake) is an airborne weapons testing and training range located adjacent to Ridgecrest and operated by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and its contractors. Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake provides the majority of employment in the city at just under 8,000 jobs in 2018. This includes the government civilian workforce, active duty military personnel and private contractors. AltaOne Federal Credit Union has its corporate headquarters in Ridgecrest. The

Searles Valley Minerals Searles Valley Minerals Inc. is a raw materials mining and production company with corporate offices in Overland Park, Kansas. It is owned by the Indian company Nirma. It has major operations in the Searles Valley centered in Trona, San Bernardin ...

plant is located adjacent to the Searles Dry Lake near the town of Trona, California, about thirty miles east of Ridgecrest.

Top employers

The principal employers in Ridgecrest in 2020 were:

Local features and activities

The most notable feature in the nearby area is the

Coso People The Timbisha ("rock paint", Timbisha language: Nümü Tümpisattsi) are a Native American tribe federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in south ...

rock art In archaeology, rock arts are human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type al ...

in Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons. The Coso People were prolific artists and traded with distant tribes using tools crafted of stone.

Archeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeology ...

recovery at coastal

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, Indigenous languages of California See also

* Pentateuch (dis ...

sites in California indicates considerable trade with the

. Other activities in the area are: *

Hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

Hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

Horseback riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the u ...

Off-roading Off-roading is the act of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, dirt, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, or other natural terrain. Off-roading ranges from casual drives with regular vehicles to competitive events w ...

and

dirt biking In the market, there is a wide variety of types of motorcycles, each with unique characteristics and features. Models vary according to the specific needs of each user, such as ''standard'', ''cruiser'', ''touring'', ''sports'', ''off-road'', '' ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

Road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws a ...

Camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

Flying Flying may refer to: * Flight, the process of flying * Aviation, the creation and operation of aircraft Music Albums * '' Flying (Cody Fry album)'', 2017 * ''Flying'' (Grammatrain album), 1997 * ''Flying'' (Jonathan Fagerlund album), 2008 * ...

and

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmospher ...

Maturango Museum

The Maturango Museum is located in Ridgecrest. The museum is best known for the guided tours to Little Petroglyph Canyon on China Lake Naval Weapons Station (NAWS). The museum offers

exhibits An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

and displays featuring both the

natural Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part ...

and the

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

of the Northern Mojave Desert with exhibits of

plants Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars f ...

animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...

, Native American artifacts,

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

and contemporary arts and crafts.

Coso Rock Art District

Coso Rock Art District, sometimes equated with the Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons is a site containing over 20,000 Native American

petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

now located within

, near

and Ridgecrest, California. In fact, there are several other distinct canyons to the Coso Rock Art District besides the Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons. The most popular subjects are bighorn sheep, deer, and antelope. Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons were declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1964. In 2001, they were incorporated into a larger

National Historic Landmark District A National Historic Landmark District (NHLD) is a geographical area that has received recognition from the United States Government that the buildings, landscapes, cultural features and archaeological resources within it are of the highest signific ...

, called Coso Rock Art District. In 2014, the Ridgecrest Petroglyph Festival, a celebration of the petroglyphs, native culture, and Ridgecrest as a California tourist destination was created as an annual event. It was named as one of

Groupon Groupon, Inc. is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching ...

's "10 Most Unique Autumn Festivals in the Country"

Walker Pass

Walker Pass (elevation ) is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

Lake Isabella Lake Isabella also called Isabella Lake, is a reservoir in Kern County, California, United States created by the earthen Isabella Dam. At , it is one of the larger reservoirs in California. Lake Isabella is located about northeast of Bakersfi ...

in the southern

mountains. It is located in northeastern

Kern County Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County compris ...

, approximately ENE of

and WSW of Ridgecrest. The pass provides a route between the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

on the west and the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

on the east.

Trona Pinnacles

Trona Pinnacles featured in many notable films are located near Ridgecrest.

Red Rock Canyon State Park

Red Rock Canyon State Park is also very close to Ridgecrest and provides the community with hiking and camping opportunities.

Education

Sierra Sands Unified School District, which serves the city of Ridgecrest, Inyokern, and the surrounding communities, includes the following elementary schools: Las Flores Elementary, Faller Elementary, Richmond Elementary currently displaced to Vieweg Elementary due to damage in recent earthquakes, Gateway Elementary, Pierce Elementary, and Inyokern Elementary. For middle-schoolers the

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

includes James Monroe Middle School, and Murray Middle School. The district's primary

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, Sherman E Burroughs High School, serves Ridgecrest, China Lake NAWC, Inyokern, Buttermilk Acres, Red Mountain, and Randsburg. There is also an

alternative high school Alternative High School (AHS) is a public senior high (secondary) school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; which teaches grades 10 through 12. AHS is currently located at the Clinton Ford Centre, which was home to the former Clinton Ford Elementary Sc ...

, Mesquite High School. Ridgecrest Elementary Academy for Language, Music, and Science
REALMS
is a public charter school sponsored by the Kern County Office of Education. Opened in 2019, the school educates children from Transitional K to the 6th grade. The school campus was formerly a Transitional K to 8th grade school which operated from 2001 to 2018 under the name Ridgecrest Charter School.

College

Cerro Coso Community College, a part of the Kern Community College District, was established in 1973 and has a full-time enrollment of 2,347. The Indian Wells Valley Campus (IWV) is located in the upper

near Ridgecrest. The IWV Campus is the largest of the Cerro Coso campuses. It serves a population of about 50,000. The college serves the communities of Ridgecrest,

, Inyokern, and

Trona Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate, also sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate, Na2CO3·NaHCO3·2H2O) is a non- marine evaporite mineral. It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has replaced ...

Public library

Ridgecrest Branch Library, a branch of the

Kern County Library The Kern County Library is a public library system serving the residents of Kern County, California. The library system is headquartered at the Beale Memorial Library in Downtown Bakersfield. There are additional branches located throughout Kern ...

, serves Ridgecrest, Inyokern, China Lake, Trona and surrounding communities.

Public safety

Ridgecrest has its own police department, as well as a regional station of th
Kern County Sheriff's Department
The Kern County Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services. Full-time law enforcement employees in 2008 numbered 56 (41 officers). Crime statistics for 2011 (reported by the Ridgecrest Police Department): *

Homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

: 1 *Manslaughter by negligence: 0 *

Robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

: 15 *

Rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

: 11 *Assault: 337 *

Burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal offence. Usually ...

: 192 *

Theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shor ...

: 292 *Auto theft: 37 *

Arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

: 14 *Total violent crimes: 364 *Total

property crime Property crime is a category of crime, usually involving private property, that includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. Property crime is a crime to obtain money, property, ...

s: 535 *Total crimes: 899 *

Percentage In mathematics, a percentage () is a number or ratio expressed as a fraction (mathematics), fraction of 100. It is often Denotation, denoted using the ''percent sign'' (%), although the abbreviations ''pct.'', ''pct'', and sometimes ''pc'' are ...

change since prior period: -9% *Calls for service: 33,440

Notable people

Notable natives include: * Rebekka Armstrong,

Playboy Playmate A Playmate is a female Model (person), model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biograph ...

and

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

activist *

Ted Bachman Theodore Lewis Bachman Jr. (January 19, 1951 – September 28, 2023) was an American professional football defensive back who played one season in the National Football League (NFL) with the Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins. Bachman played col ...

, former American football

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

, attended Burroughs High. * Lacy Barnes-Mileham, (b. 1964), graduated Burroughs High (1983) and Fresno State (1988). Won U.S.A. Track and Field discus championships in 1999 and 1991, and competed in the

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. * Jerome Davis, sprinter *

Mark Hoppus Mark Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972) is an American musician and record producer. He is the co-lead vocalist, co-founder, and bassist for the rock band Blink-182 and the only member to appear on every album. Hoppus became interested in ska ...

, co-lead singer and bassist of the rock band

Blink-182 Blink-182 is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California, in 1992. Its current and best-known line-up consists of bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though its so ...

* Jason Monks, politician and member of the

Idaho House of Representatives The Idaho House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Idaho Legislature. It consists of 70 representatives elected to two-year terms. The state is divided into 35 districts, each of which elects two representatives to separate seats. ...

Sabaa Tahir Sabaa Tahir is an American Young adult fiction, young adult novelist best known for her The New York Times Best Seller list, ''New York Times''-bestselling ''An Ember in the Ashes'', its sequels, and the novel ''All My Rage''. Two of her novels ...

, author * Guy Kyser, singer/songwriter of the rock band

Thin White Rope Thin White Rope was an American Rock music, rock band associated with the Palm Desert Scene, desert rock and Paisley Underground subgenres, fronted by vocalist Guy Kyser. The band released five albums. Origins The band was formed in Davis, Cali ...

Media

Ridgecrest has one

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

, KZGN-LD, owned by Wiknich Broadcasting Corp., that has 3 channels serving the entire Indian Wells Valley over the air and on Mediacom Cable. KZGN provides local news, weather and sports. KZGN also provides a daily local interview program, ''Ridgecrest Talk''. Ridgecrest is served by two newspapers, '' The Daily Independent'' and the ''News Review'', as well as a mixture of local broadcast stations and

repeaters ''Repeaters'' is a 2010 Canadian thriller film directed by Carl Bessai, written by Arne Olsen, and starring Dustin Milligan, Amanda Crew, and Richard de Klerk as young drug addicts who find themselves stuck in a time loop. Plot Kyle, Sonia, and ...

from

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

and television stations based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

. The repeaters are operated by the IWV TV Booster. Radio stations in the area include KRSF 89.3 a Christian radio format with Radio 74; KZFX 93.7 a classic rock format with ABC and California news and weather; KSSI (FM) 102.7, broadcasting rock music, local news and weather;

KLOA (AM) KLOA (1240 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station broadcasting a sports radio, sports format, licensed to and serving Ridgecrest, California, United States. The station is currently owned by Adelman Broadcasting, Inc. and features programming ...

1240, broadcasting

CBS Sports Radio Infinity Sports Network is an American sports radio network. It debuted as CBS Sports Radio with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013. Infinity Sports Network is programmed by Audacy, Inc ...

; KZIQ 92.7, featuring adult contemporary music; KRAJ The Heat 100.9 FM, featuring a hip-hop format; and K296AI the 107.1, with

KCNV KCNV (89.7 FM) is a listener-supported public radio station with a classical music format. It is a part of Nevada Public Radio and features programming from American Public Media, National Public Radio and Public Radio International. KCNV ...

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

feed. KRCK-1360, "Ridgecrest Radio", went off the air in the 1970s. Television repeater K05FO 5 rebroadcasts

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...

; and K35HO-D 35 rebroadcasts KBAK.

In popular culture

The town of Junktown in the video game

Fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the ...

is based on a post-apocalyptic version of Ridgecrest. In a 1984 Sony commercial, Ridgecrest is known as the "Earthquake Capital of the World..."

Transportation

Ridgecrest is located at the junction of highways

California State Route 178 State Route 178 (SR 178) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that exists in two constructed segments. The gap in between segments is connected by various local roads and State Route 190 (California), State Route 190 through Death ...

and U.S. Route 395 (business route). The city of Ridgecrest provides the Ridgecrest Transit shuttle bus service to and from Inyokern, connecting with the

Eastern Sierra Transit Authority Eastern Sierra Transit is the operator of public transportation for the Eastern Sierra Region in California (between the Sierra Nevada and the California state line). The agency operates both inter-city and local service. They also offer Dial-a-r ...

bus that serves

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

and Mammoth Lakes to the north, and Lancaster (Metrolink station), with connections to the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles, to the south.

Kern Transit Kern Transit, formerly Kern Regional Transit, is the operator of mass transportation in Kern County, California. Primarily, it provides inter-regional transportation, connecting outlying regions with the city of Bakersfield (and with each other ...

connects Ridgecrest to

and Mojave.

References

External links

*
City-data.com: Ridgecrest, California

{{authority control Cities in Kern County, California Cities in the Mojave Desert Populated places established in 1912 1912 establishments in California Incorporated cities and towns in California