The Antelope Valley is said to be a desert. As is usual in such places, a closer look belies the label. It's only a desert to people who wanted to farm it. Now the farming survives in areas where there's ground water to support irrigation and the rest is reverting. The trouble is, once this kind of land is disturbed the original ecosystem can't rebuild itself; invasive weeds take a stranglehold. This photograph was taken in the Antelope Valley Preserve, a small area that was never farmed. This is how most of the valley looked. Disturbed areas have grown up in creosote, and that plant's monopolistic habits preclude any other pattern.

Across the way, capped with clouds left behind by a storm, are the Tehachapi Mountains, formed by the Garlock Fault. About twenty miles northwest of where I'm standing, the southeast-trending Garlock meets the northwest-trending San Andreas and the valley ends in a narrow gap between mountains.

In the foreground is buckwheat. There are many kinds of this common plant, all characterized by the rust-red stems and tiny flowers in globular bunches. In the middle distance are Joshua trees, angular limbs carrying clusters of sharp-tipped leaves. It's a type of yucca. Beyond them are junipers.