Hiking: West Mojave Desert : The Tortoise and the Hair-Raising Trail

Everything a desert tortoise is--patient, quiet, slow, a homebody--fast-paced urbanites are not. Perhaps, then, that’s why we Californians admire our official state reptile.

One of the best places to glimpse one is at the Desert Tortoise Natural Area in the West Mojave Desert near California City. March through mid-June is the best time to glimpse a tortoise and right now is a good time to view the desert wildflowers.

“If you’re in a hurry, don’t come,” cautions Chuck Boland, the tortoise preserve’s naturalist, who explains the creature’s slow and deliberate lifestyle to visitors and helps them identify the many flowering plants. “This place is not a zoo, but a wonderful, peaceful place, full of the magic that is the Mojave Desert,” Boland adds. “Take your time and your visit will be very satisfying.”

Ancestors of the present-day desert tortoise roamed the earth with dinosaurs and, up until recently, managed to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Then came grazing animals that squashed them and collapsed their burrows, and off-road vehicles that did likewise, as well as residential and commercial development that obliterated their habitat. Tortoises have been illegally collected, shot at in perverse fun, even sold as dog food in Los Angeles during the 1890s.

Once upon a time, the western Mojave desert supported as many as 2,000 tortoises per square mile. Today the tortoise population is a fraction of that and the creature is considered a threatened species by state and federal governments.

One of the densest populations of tortoises remaining can be found in the 21,000-acre Desert Tortoise Natural Area set aside 20 years ago by conservation groups and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to give the venerable reptiles a fighting chance for survival. The tortoises inside their fenced preserve seem to be doing better than their fellows out in the open desert, though the preserve population has suffered from the diseases brought in by people who release captive tortoises in the natural area. As a result, the tortoises become afflicted with a difficult-to-cure upper respiratory condition that spreads rapidly through the population--sort of a reptilian version of the movie “Outbreak.”

In springtime, the tortoises emerge from their burrows to feed, but stay very close to them, wandering off only for a little eating, basking or mating. They grow to 14 inches long and live a very slow 50 to 100 years.

When I visited the preserve recently I had the passing thought that somewhere out in the Mojave there is an old tortoise that has been around for both a stagecoach passing and the space shuttle landing.

First stop for visitors should be the colorfully painted motor home that is the tortoise area’s headquarters during the March through June season. Out front are a couple of exhibits, free information sheets and tortoise T-shirts for sale.

Several trails crisscross the park. Main Loop Trail makes a short circle from the parking area and connects to Plant Trail and Animal Trail, self-guided nature trails with interpretive pamphlets that explain the local flora and fauna.

More ambitious is the 1.8-mile Discovery Loop Trail that follows strategically placed brown posts emblazoned with a hiker’s log across the open and now blooming desert. In the shelter of the spreading creosote bushes are fiddle neck, gold fields and evening snow. Near headquarters is the stunning desert candle.

Look for tortoise burrows--and tortoises--near these creosote bushes. Best chance for spotting a tortoise is in the morning and late afternoon. You are more likely to spot one away from the nature trials than right next to the paths. Ask the naturalist, on duty during spring, for help in locating a tortoise.

Directions to trail head: From California 14 (Antelope Valley Freeway), five miles north of the town of Mojave, exit on California City Boulevard. Drive about 10 miles east (through California City). Turn left (northeast) on 20 Mule Team Parkway and in 1.4 miles reach Randsburg-Mojave Road. Turn left at this junction, where you’ll find a shaded picnic area and information panels about the desert tortoise. Proceed 4 1/2 more miles on the dirt road (usually in good shape, but almost impassable after a hard rain) to the Desert Tortoise Natural Area parking lot.

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Main Loop Trail, Discovery Trail Where: Desert Tortoise Natural Area near California City, West Mojave Desert. Distance: 1 /2 to 5 miles round trip. Terrain: Creosote bush- covered flatlands. Highlights: California’s state reptile in native habitat; showy desert wildflowers. Degree of Difficulty: Easy. Precaution: Do not touch the tortoises; under no circumstances, release a pet or captive tortoise in the reserve. For More Information: U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest Resource Area, 300 S. Richmond Road, Ridgecrest, CA. 93555; tel. (619) 384- 5400.