Great Basin Desert

The Great Basin Desert is the northernmost desert of California. It is the largest desert in North America, most of the desert lies within Nevada and Utah, but enters California only along the state’s eastern border. Some prominent peaks that are within the California section of the Great Basin Desert are White Mountain Peak at 14,246 ft in elevation (California’s third tallest mountain) and Telescope Peak at 11,049 ft in elevation. The Great Basin Desert holds many biological communities including sagebrush scrub, pinyon-juniper woodland, and at higher elevations montane communities with Bristlecone Pines. The oldest (nonclonal) organism can be found here, known as Methuselah, it is over 4,600 years of age.

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Mojave