Desert Spring, California

Cantil (Spanish for "Stone Cliff") is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is in the Fremont Valley of the western Mojave Desert.

Honda Proving Center of California (HPCC) is a test track established in 1990 and used primarily for testing Honda and Acura automobiles, although motorcycles are also tested there. HPCC is located near Cantil, California, in Kern County. Security is tight, and pilots flying near the track have reported seeing cars immediately heading for cover as they got close to the facility.

Cache Creek is an arroyo (dry wash) in the western Tehachapi Pass and Mojave Desert areas of Kern County, southern California. The arroyo's intermittent creek flows seasonally from watersheds in the northeastern Tehachapi Mountains and southeastern Sierra Nevada foothills, and from infrequent rains as flash floods, ending in the Mojave Desert.

Gypsite was a small community at the site of a mill in Kern County, California. It is located 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Saltdale, in the Fremont Valley of the Mojave Desert at an elevation of 1,959 feet (597 m). It is located near Koehn Lake south-southwest of Ridgecrest near Garlock, California.

The Beacon Solar Project is a photovoltaic power station in the northwestern Mojave Desert, near California City in eastern Kern County, California. Split into five phases, the combined Beacon solar facilities generate 250 MW of renewable energy for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The five phases of the project, fully completed in December 2017, include a total of 903,434 individual solar photovoltaic modules, mounted onto Nextpower single-axis tracking systems. The Beacon Solar Project was originally proposed by NextEra Energy using parabolic trough mirrors as solar energy collectors for a solar thermal electric energy generation project. The solar thermal electric powerplant technology configuration raised significant concerns during the CEQA environmental permitting process. Among the many environmental concerns, the natural gas supply, the wastewater management and disposal, and the water supply during construction and during operation of the plant were concerns specific to the solar thermal technology. The project was reconfigured, simplified and rescoped to a photovoltaic technology, eliminating the solar thermal technology concerns, though significant other environmental concerns remained. LADWP acquired the entire project, including the land and the environmental permitting for the site in 2012 as photovoltaic technology, which gained economic advantages over solar thermal and other technologies as a result of rapidly decreasing costs of solar photovoltaic modules. LADWP contracted Hecate Energy to develop three phases of the project, for 162 MW, and SunEdison, to develop the other two phases, for 88 MW. SunEdison's stake in the project was later acquired by Capital Dynamics. Hecate Energy's stake in the project was acquired by sPower (Sustainable Power), and was completed by sPower, who was later acquired by AES. In October 2018, LADWP commissioned the Beacon Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), with 10 MWh/20 MW of storage to stabilize the energy sent to the grid by the solar panels.

Jawbone Canyon is a geographic feature in the Mojave Desert and a Bureau of Land Management area located in Kern County, California, 20 miles (32 km) north of Mojave on CA 14 near Cantil, CA. The area is a popular destination for hikers and off road vehicle enthusiasts.

Red Rock Canyon State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of California which features scenic desert cliffs, buttes and spectacular rock formations. The park consists of approximately 27,000 acres (110 km2) within the Mojave Sector of the Tehachapi District of the California State Park System, and is located along State Highway 14 in Kern County, about 80 miles (129 km) east of Bakersfield and 25 miles (40 km) north of Mojave, where the southernmost tip of the Sierra Nevada converges with the El Paso Mountains. Each tributary canyon is unique, with vivid colors due to alternate layers of white clay and red sandstone, further accented by pink volcanic rocks and brown lava formations. The canyon was formed 3 million years ago. After wet winters, the park's floral displays are notable. Three overlapping desert ecosystems provide for the wildlife that includes eagles, falcons, roadrunners, hawks, coyotes, kit foxes, bobcats, lizards, mice and squirrels. Red Rock Canyon provides magnificent views of the pristine desert landscape, includes two natural preserves, and offers, among other recreational activities, camping, sightseeing, equestrian activities, hiking, and opportunities for solitude.

Last Chance Canyon is a canyon in the El Paso Mountains near Johannesburg, California. The canyon runs from Saltdale in the south to Black Mountain in the north; part of it lies within Red Rock Canyon State Park. The canyon includes a variety of archaeological sites, including pictographs, villages, rock shelters, mills, and quarries. Historic sites such as gold mining camps are also located in the canyon. The canyon is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and is open for recreational use. Hiking, camping, and 4-wheel drive vehicles are permitted in most parts of the canyon. The canyon was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 1972.

Saltdale is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located near Koehn Lake 21 miles (34 km) south-southwest of Ridgecrest near Garlock, California. It is at an elevation of 1,923 feet (586 m). The town was founded in 1914 for salt harvesting from Koehn Dry Lake. A post office operated at Saltdale from 1916 to 1950.

Koehn Lake is a dry lake, and seasonally endorheic lake, in the Fremont Valley of the Mojave Desert, in eastern Kern County, California.

The historical Burro Schmidt Tunnel is located in the El Paso Mountains of the northern Mojave Desert, in eastern Kern County, southern California. It is a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) mining tunnel dug with hand tools and dynamite over a 38-year period by William "Burro" H. Schmidt (1871–1954). in the El Paso Mountains of eastern California. The tunnel is below the summit of a 4,400-foot (1,300 m) mountain. Its southern adit (portal) overlooks the Fremont Valley, Koehn Dry Lake, and the ghost towns of Garlock and Saltdale.

The Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area (DTRNA) is a 39.5-square-mile (102 km2) area in the western Mojave Desert, located in eastern Kern County, Southern California. It was created to protect the native desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), which is also the California state reptile. The area is located at the southwestern end of the Rand Mountains, northeast of California City, and has an interpretive center for visitors. 640 acres (260 ha) of the land was given to the Bureau of Land Management in a 1980 agreement over the Great Western Cities Company land schemes as part of an effort to acquire clear title. The Bureau of Land Management recognized the significance of the area and designated it an "Area of Critical Environmental Concern" and as a "Research Natural Area" in 1980.