anything worth doing in the American Desert that isn't Las Vegas or "nature"?
The idea of moving to some nowhere town in the mojave is attractive but I'm sure the reality is less romantic but Ive been to the High Desert in July once and took to it almost instantly even in the fricked up shitholes but this was Sonoran California and I don't know how Nevada or other parts of the Mojave differ
Best Exourban or Semi Rural places?
no it's cultureless
a cultural desert if you will?
I guess you could say they got their...
Just Deserts
Terlingua, Texas is a former ghost town which has been revitalized. While it does see many tourists from Austin, the people who live there tend to be colorful characters who refuse to fit into conventional society.
Tecopa, California is a tiny hot spring oasis in the Mojave Desert with its own share of weirdos.
Quartzsite, Arizona is the "Mecca" of boondocking, with dozens of campgrounds and vast areas of open public land where one may camp for free. Thousands visit every winter, mostly boomers, but the last couple years have seen an event called the Par-T-R (spinoff of Bob Wells' RTR) which has a couple hundred free spirits party and live it up in the desert. Members of the Rainbow Family gather for the "Black Sheep" gathering around the winter solstice, though the gathering location changes every year.
Ajo, Arizona is a pretty little desert town in the middle of nowhere. Rather boring.
Slab City, California is an anarchist squatter camp on the fringes of the Imperial Valley which sees thousands of quirky folk visit or stay during the winter.
Borrego Springs, CA is a remote town in the low desert, nestled against the high mountains of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Normie-tier.
People usually go to the desert to get away from other people, but even loners sometimes crave companionship, so those who spend time in desert towns often have interesting social encounters.
Lake Havasu City has a kickass lakefront and a boring downtown full of boomers. Also free camping very close to the city.
Pahrump is an ugly "city" with no downtown, but it has kickass mountains and Death Valley nearby, and it also has lots of crusty old desert rats.
Never spent time in Desert Hot Springs, but it's supposedly full of homosexuals, tweakers, and assorted riff-raff who feel most comfortable on the edge of the desert.
The desert towns of Bishop and Lone Pine in California are not too interesting, but you can't beat the fascinating topography of the Eastern Sierra region.
I've been all over the desert southwest. Like all over it. I'm from the IE and into offroading and camping, probably been down every road in the Mojave at some point.
>Desert Hot Springs, it's supposedly full of homosexuals, tweakers, and assorted riff-raff who feel most comfortable on the edge of the desert.
It's also because the sheriffs used to just drag junkies and homeless out of Palm Springs and leave them on the curb there. Also, a shit ton of pedos from everywhere else because other places throw a fit about sex offenders moving in but DHS doesn't care, anybody moving to DHS is better than people leaving. Also why there's a ton of head shops and dispensaries.
I'll rattle off some places I personally like.
>Morongo Valley (J-Tree/29 Palms/Yucca Valley).
Gets a bad rap because marines hate it. Chill, pretty area, J-Tree is kind of hippy, 29 is kind of tweakery and Yucca Valley is kind of a bedroom community for palm springs with nice houses (10-15 degrees cooler than PS or DHS, snows in the winter). Have a friend who works on base and loves it, 29 Palms is totally different when you're a civilian and can leave when you want. Only downside is not many jobs besides shit with the military and not much social stuff besides a few restaurants and bars. Close to all the SighSee in the desert and you can drive up the back road to snowboard in Big Bear. Got expensive after covid but Landers is still cheap.
>Phelan/Pearblossom
Less sprawl-ey than what what Victorville/Hesperia have become. Also close to mountains. Lots of large properties and normal folks who just like having land and living in the country.
>Borrego Springs
Mostly retirees, not much to do besides offroading and hiking trails, hot as balls in the summer but its surprisingly close to SD.
continued
>Bullhead/Laughlin
My parents moved here. It's fun to visit and do shit on the river which is cool but it seems like only old white boomers and mexicans live here. There's not much to do besides offroading, boating or gambling which is fun but gets old. Country music shows in Laughin but that's not my thing. Summer heat is insane. 120F. Winter is cold and windy. Spring and fall are ok.
>Havasu
Like Bullhead, maybe a little nicer, but not by a lot, and is much more like so cal, feels crowded. If you're into boating you'll like it otherwise you won't. Bridge is cool but I'd actually rather live in Bullhead and I'm not a huge fan of either place.
>Coachella Valley (Palm Springs, Indio, etc.). Boomers golfing and old gays with HIV complications. And mexicans that work at the country club. Not really my thing but its the most developed desert area outside Phx/Tucson and Vegas (which I won't mention here since that's a thread for itself).
Indifferent:
>Victorville, Hesperia and Lancaster
Basically just suburbs of LA now. Tons of the worst sprawl, have to drive 30 minutes through stop lights to do anything. Apple Valley is like a cheaper version of this.
>Tehachapi
Pretty town but my god it's out there, hours from anything.
>Bishop (and Lone Pine, Independence, etc.)
Great for SighSee but I think it would be boring to live there unless you want trad and quiet. I think it's really mormon, feels like nothing changes there.
>rural Nevada (Tonopah, Beatty)
Those places are lonely, weird and haunted.
>Kingman
cheap but feels like idk, Missouri or somewhere similar, not many jobs, dull culturally redneck place, fast food and truck stops
Avoid Completely:
Ridgecrest, Mojave, Parker (too many indians), Imperial County (ghetto and mexican), Yuma, Adelanto, Lake LA, Palmdale, Needles, Quartzite (ugly dust bowl town that gets crowded with boomers in RVs until its hot then they go away.
OP here. I've been to Imperial (Bombay Beach/Desert Shores) Niland etc.
Barstow was very chaotic. Like Californias answer to Florida. (somehow worse than SF which says alot)
I still liked it. I wasn't prepared for how brown everything was and no I'm not talking about the people
Got stopped by border patrol too. The heat wasn't that bad. I mean yeah it was 115F but without humidity.
My favorite aspect was being able to feel your senses. You don't realize how much ambient noise your brain filters out
Never felt unsafe per say. Barstow isn't anything new for people from places like Oakland, St Louis, Memphis etc. It's VERY frustrating when you just want to sleep and GTFO to deal with creepy motel owners trying to scam you or crackheads on their way too or from Vegas which I think colors people's reaction to it
Barstow has soul considering it's basically the Mos Eisley bar scene but an entire city. I'm surprised the people who ruined Portland never took to it. Guess they got filtered by the heat and 24/7 chicanary.
When I said avoid, I what I meant was avoid it as a place to live there. I'll drive around Barstow anytime but wouldn't live in that shithole. I've met people who have "good jobs" there (law enforcement or railroad) and commute from Hesperia to get away from the tweakers.
Oh, they're fricking creepy as hell. The little towns on 395 are so cute but feel like they're one good economic downturn away from complete abandonment. Places like Goldfield, NV have grand old hotels and buildings from the mining era that are abandoned and you can just walk inside in the door and look around. There will be abandoned houses next to places where someone seems to be living normally. I can't imagine living in a post-apocalyptic place like that... like a Detroit but with better behaved residents. I was in some place, Mina, NV I think, and looked in an abandoned diner and there were still all the chairs and tables and plates stacked behind the counter. Add to that, you drive forever and ever just to get to these has-been, used to be places where there's absolutely nothing left now. You spend an hour on the highway without seeing a sign of civilization, a fence, a cow and then get somewhere that looks like it was abandoned in the 70s. It's jarring. It's no wonder people think they see aliens and shit living out there.
>Yuma
Yuma is sprawly as frick, but you can scoot right into the riverfront on I-8 and chill out in the shade under the bridge. Trails to hike as well. Some of the warmest winter temps in the USA, farther from high peaks than most places in SoCal. Tons of Canadian boomers stay there. IME, Yuma is best in spring after it starts getting hot and they head north. I even walked across the river into Winterhaven, California to buy a homosexual THC vape cart with my first timer discount
Yuma is basically Mexico. It's nothing but mostly beaners and lettuce farms it's so far south it just feels like Mexico. It smells like Mexico. You'd get it if you've been both places.
Sorry if this is a small bit off topic but what is the cooming like out in the desert?
Not good. Like most anywhere in small town America, the all the women who have a brain leave when they hit adulthood. You might get lucky with some hippie instagrammer in J-Tree. 29 Palms has to be the biggest sausage fest in the country. Nobody there but truckers, bikers, marines and junkies. I went to a crowded restaurant there once where there were no women in the entire place. There's prostitutes for sure, ton of "massage" places there and around Barstow.
>Bishop
You can also drive for over 3,000 miles along the same road and end up at the tip of Cape Cod!
Forgot to mention Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Despite being on the interstate, the downtown is quirky, laid-back and pure Chihuahuan Desert.
Wickenburg used to be the major highway junction town of western Arizona. These days it is still reasonably busy, but has a rustic "old Arizona" vibe a world away from the suburban sprawl of the Phoenix metro.
There's not much of anything in Nipton, California, but it still tries for that cool desert aesthetic.
Zzyzx, California is an old religious retreat built on government land, which was abandoned decades ago and which has been taken over by a nonprofit. It's cool to stroll around.
Barstow, CA is a Black person-infested shithole city, but it still has that Old Route 66 vibe, and there are some cool desert areas to explore near the city.
I found Caliente, Nevada to be very quiet but also a chill place to hang out and wander about.
Sneaking into the lovely stone-hewn hot spring pool in Warm Springs, Nevada was heckin' cool. But that was in 2016...
Nipton is for sale again. Maybe an anon should buy it for an incel resort. The plan to turn it into a stoner resort didn't pan out.
Forgot to add Barstow to the avoid list.
These barren regions in the US are so fricking depressing. I went all throughout Nevada and eastern California. The amount of poverty is just insane. The small dying towns are really damn depressing. I’m not super well travelled but Nevada is probably the most depressing place I’ve ever visited.
I've taken multiple road trips through Arizona/New Mexico. It's beautiful. Wouldn't want to live there though
What are some good towns to visit?