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Desert


michael helzer, city, land art, megasculpture, garden valley, nevada
Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Hubris in Art Form

Land artists insist on making their mark on the ancestral grounds of Indigenous people. By Jason Asenap • Photo by Adria Malcolm


desert handbook
Emily Underwood

High Desert Handbook

The insider’s guide to one of California’s hottest zip codes. (Seriously, it hits triple digits by 9 a.m. here.) By Stacey Grenrock Woods • Illustrations by Emily Underwood


joshua tree national park, echo cove, california, desert, alta journal
Gregg Segal

‘This Place Belongs to You’

Joshua Tree National Park is synonymous with the desert. Yet record numbers of guests threaten to overwhelm its beauty, wildlife, and small staff. By Brad Rassler • Photos by Gregg Segal


tim shields, tortoise, mojave desert, technotort, laser, raven
Gregg Segal

The Desert Tortoise Defender

In the Mojave, an inventor uses lasers and drones to deter ravens. By Anisse Gross • Photos by Gregg Segal


ken layne, desert oracle, periodical, magazine, quarterly
Philip Cheung

An Ode to Desert Oracle

The brief history of “a pocket-sized field guide to the fascinating American deserts: strange tales, singing sand dunes, sagebrush trails, artists and aliens, authors and oddballs, ghost towns and modern legends, musicians and mystics, scorpions and saguaros!”—and its imminent return. By Ken Layne • Illustrations by Joe Ciardiello


the joint, biker bar, randsburg, california, harley davidson, motorcycles, desert
Tod Seelie

The Joy of a Great Desert Biker Bar

Six spots across Southern California to go hog wild—and get some delicious food, too. By Louise Farr • Photos by Tod Seelie


new cayuma, blue sky center, the pope, huts, overnight stays, alta journal
Matthew Smith

A Company Town Comes Back to Life

The nonprofit Blue Sky Center returns power to the people of New Cuyama. By Ed Leibowitz • Photos by Matthew Smith


clay worst, goldfield, arizona, lost dutchman mine, gold, alta journal
Scott Baxter

The Cactus with 12 Arms

Dozens of people have been killed searching for the Lost Dutchman Mine in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains. At 93, Clay Worst is the last living connection to those who claimed to know its location. By Clay Worst as told to Geoffrey Gray • Photos by Scott Baxter


oasis california, scorpions
Zoe Matthiessen

Fiction: “Oasis, California”

By Susan Straight • Illustration by Zoe Matthiessen


death valley, california, tourists, pilgrimage, extreme climate, extreme heat, alta journal
Gordon Wiltsie

Living with Death Valley

Climate is making a place of extremes feel a lot more normal. By Chris Colin • Photos by Gordon Wiltsie


proving grounds, mojave air and space port, mojave desert, spaceshipone, dry lake bed, el mirage, vandenberg space force base, alta journal
Getty Images

Proving Grounds

The desert holds its secrets—which is why it’s been an ideal place to test out what’s next. By Jessica Blough, Elizabeth Casillas, Robert Ito, and Ed Leibowitz


tony soares, mojave desert, pottery, idyllwild arts academy, lost art, cahuilla style pottery, alta journal
Gregg Segal

Pottery as Cultural Survival

Tony Soares is reviving a lost Mojave Desert Indigenous art form. By M.T. Hartnell • Photos by Gregg Segal


desert hot springs, california, natural spring water, miracle manor, hotel, midcentury, alta journal
Christina Gandolfo

Soaking Up Some Wisdom

In the middle and feeling a little spent, a writer relates all too well to Desert Hot Springs. By Monica Corcoran Harel • Photos by Christina Gandolfo


desert pop culture moments
Alta

THE DESERT’S MOST ICONIC POP CULTURE MOMENTS

By Robert Ito


drought, american west, dry irrigation canal, colorado river indian tribes, colorado river, arizona, alta journal
Gordon Wiltsie

The Drought

A road trip along the diminished Colorado River reveals the hot, dry, and terribly inevitable future of the western United States. By Rob Schultheis • Photos by Gordon Wiltsie



Books


jaime hernandez, love and rockets
Dustin Snipes

Why I Write/Draw

By Jaime Hernandez

Why You Should Read This: Maggie the Mechanic

By David L. Ulin


andrew sean greer
CHRIS HARDY

The Glee of Playing with Language

By Andrew Sean Greer

Why You Should Read This: Less

By David L. Ulin


isabel allende
CHRIS HARDY

A Conversation with Isabel Allende

By David L. Ulin

Why You Should Read This: The House of the Spirits

By David L. Ulin


doug peacock
Scott T. Baxter

Yes, It’s Worth It

Doug Peacock’s writing and love of the wild continue to inspire the radical environmental movement. By Terry McDonell • Photos by Scott Baxter

Six Essential Books by Doug Peacock

From Grizzly Years to Was It Worth It?, these books showcase the best of the environmental writer. By Terry McDonell



Culture


mike henderson at his studio in san leandro, california, as an artist, hes reinvented himself several times during his nearly six decade career
Christie Hemm Klok

Mike Henderson’s Personal Renaissance

Now late in his career, the Bay Area artist is seeing his paintings praised as much for their craft and creativity as for their social critique and cultural representations. By Marcus Crowder • Photos by Christie Hemm Klok


claude monet’s "the portal of rouen cathedral in morning light," 1894
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles/HIP/Art Resource, NEW YORK

Why This Art

Traveling through time with Monet’s The Portal of Rouen Cathedral in Morning Light. By Raffi Kalenderian


orange county museum of art exterior
Tom Bonner

Take That, Guggenheim!

Architect Thom Mayne’s new home for the Orange County Museum of Art is a head-spinning force of nature. By Joseph Giovannini • Photos by Tom Bonner


bullets
GETTY IMAGES

Poetry: “Teach Your Children to Remain Small and Invisible”

By James Cagney


peter orner, jimmy, victor juhasz
Victor Juhasz

Fiction: “Jimmy”

By Peter Orner • Illustrations by Victor Juhas


alex foster
Dustin Snipes

Trailblazer: Alec Foster

Making gun violence everyone’s problem. By Jessica Klein • Photo by Dustin Snipes



In Every Issue


PUBLISHER’S NOTE: THE CALL OF THE DESERT

By Will Hearst

ALTATUDE

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