When will the wildflowers bloom in the desert? This is one of the most often asked questions. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most difficult to answer. Each year, the unique combination of sun, wind, water. temperature, elevation precise location sets the stage for the springtime blooms. Use the following information to make your own predictions for this spring's showing. More...

Looking for Earp, Part I - When the Earp boys, Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan, cloaked in long black coats and accompanied by gambler “Doc” Holiday, made the famous walk to meet Ike Clanton and his gang in Tombstone, Ariz.; he walked into an exalted place in the history of the American West. He still captures our imaginations, 81 years after his death. More...

Dama Gazelle - an icon of wild grace and swiftness – faces a precarious future in its arid range along the southern reaches of the Sahara Desert. If it plunges into the black hole of extinction, it will become a symbol of the environmental cost of climate change, human encroachment, military and civil conflict and, perhaps most of all, overhunting. More...

Shutterbug 101: Once upon a time -By now, I’m certain that you have collected many images from your digital and film cameras. Now what do you do with them? You could stuff the snapshots of family dinners and picnics away in old shoe boxes — thinking someday you will work on them, put them in albums, etc. But generally folks just leave those old negatives and prints in those shoe boxes. With digital, it’s also easy to have your photos stored away out of sight and mind — but now they are on CDs or DVDs. Maybe you will make a print or two to send to family and friends. How about creating lasting books of the photos that you like best? More...

The Mojave Road - Perhaps the best treasure in eastern California's Mojave National Preserve is a pair of tracks that cross the middle of it. This famous trail is the Mojave Road, one of the early routes that brought American pioneers to California. This trail is unique in that for most of this 138 mile stretch it is in much the same condition as the pioneers would have found it, and a lot of the trail passes through country that is virtually unchanged since prehistoric times. The road bisects the Preserve, wandering from waterhole to waterhole, and is mostly a 4-wheel-drive trail. More...

January Dates in Tombstone History - January 3, 1882 – John Carr defeated John Clum for mayor of Tombstone.

January 4, 1881 – A committee headed by George Parsons substituted John Clum for another candidate after he withdrew from the mayor’s race less than a week before the election. John was elected mayor of Tombstone with 532 out of 697 votes. Ben Sippy kept the City Marshal position in the same election.

More...

Get the latest desert temperatures - Take a look at desert conditions, and plan a trip to see the wildflowers! More...