[pct-l] Camping south of Tehachapi

[Paint Your Wagon]

All right Gary- 
I’ll play along... 
Kelso Valley Rd. north, and Bird Spring Pass, 
are two lovely spots that come to mind as desert environments in my simple mind. 
Hunkering under Joshua Trees for shade, 
so as not to spontaneously combust also comes to mind. 
Potato, potahtoe- tomato, tomahtoe- 
The empty quarter of Arabia may be the textbook example you’re using to define the meaning of desert.
Is that about right? 
OK- 
I have to respectfully disagree and would contend that the term desert is quite broad, 
and does define much of the stretch both north and south of Walker Pass. 
Anyway-  slap my butt and call me Red. 
Just funnin’ with ya.’ 
PaintYW  

 On 02/15/15, Paint Your Wagon wrote:
The cruelty is in the fact that the desert does not give way easily. 
It’s still desert for much of the next two hundred miles, 
even a bit beyond Kennedy Meadows. 
Ha!
********************************

(start quote) Even more cruel is the knowledge that the PCT only has a very few miles that crosses real desert. The chaparral country that the PCT traverses through in Southern California is definitely not desert. And Kennedy Meadows? :-)Gary (end quote)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert

A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. 
The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to the processes of denudation. 
About one third of the land surface of the world is arid or semi-arid. 
This includes much of the polar regions where little precipitation occurs and which are sometimes called "cold deserts". 
Deserts can be classified 
by the amount of precipitation that falls, 
by the temperature that prevails, 
by the causes of desertification or 
by their geographical location.

“By definition- the two largest deserts are in the Artic, and in Antarctica.”

  The ten largest deserts[40] Rank Desert Area (km²) Area (mi²) 
      1 Antarctic Desert (Antarctica) 14,200,000 5,500,000 
      2 Arctic Desert (Arctic) 13,900,000 5,400,000 
      3 Sahara Desert (Africa) 9,100,000 3,500,000 
      4 Arabian Desert (Middle East) 2,600,000 1,000,000 
      5 Gobi Desert (Asia) 1,300,000 500,000 
      6 Patagonian Desert (South America) 670,000 260,000 
      7 Great Victoria Desert (Australia) 647,000 250,000 
      8 Kalahari Desert (Africa) 570,000 220,000 
      9 Great Basin Desert (North America) 490,000 190,000 
      10 Syrian Desert (Middle East) 490,000 190,000