Welcome to Desert Fog. A place for articles and images about interesting, unusual, and odd things found in the deserts of the American West.
Current Reports
July 16, 2020 – Lithium Mining in the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts Lithium in the West is the new Gold Rush. Lithium is not booming in the United States, but it is moving across the deserts of Nevada and California. This project looks at producers and explorers positioned to grow the lithium industry. And lithium will change the activity and look of the desert.
Aug. 23, 2017 – Google Project Loon, Winnemucca, Nevada A look at one of the latest cutting-edge Space Age technologies being used by Google’s X Development “moonshot” Factory in the heart of The Great Basin Desert in Winnemucca, Nevada. Here Project Loon launches special high-tech balloons to the stratosphere to test delivering internet service and connections to large parts of the world that do not have access.
March 17, 2012 – Ryan Camp, Death Valley, California Through research, articles and photographs, historical and current events are presented about the area in and around the private mining town of Ryan Camp in Death Valley. This includes other historic properties such as Death Valley Junction and three nonprofit conservancies, Death Valley Conservancy, Death Valley Natural History Association and Amargosa Opera House Inc. that either own, manage or watch over historic properties or land and activities in this area of the desert. This project also explores the effect that Rio Tinto, an Australian-British multinational and one of the world’s largest metals and mining corporations has upon nonprofit conservancies and a national park.
The Daily Blotter
March 26, 2022 – Barriers, surveillance systems, rescue beacons, and water drops in the Yuha Desert supporting the United States Border Patrol El Centro Sector.
March 8, 2022 – Located in the remote Colorado Desert is the North American micro nation of the United Territories of the Sovereign Nation of The People’s Republic of Slowjamastan.
Sept. 9, 2021 – Soviet radar and military equipment simulates an enemy landscape in the nation’s only drive-thru electronic warfare park at the Fallon Range Training Complex.
May 31, 2020 – The Russians were here, and they brought their own building. See the Russian Inspection Station used for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
Dec. 15, 2019 – Are you too hot or cold right now, wishing you were someplace else doing something different? Here you can see the current weather from the Black Rock to the Mojave through the Sonoran to the Chihuahuan deserts. Besides different weather you may also find some interesting, odd and unexplained things. Desert Weather.
March 14, 2019 – The other Mojave Desert telephone: Lanfair #1
Jan. 10, 2019 – In Search of the Next Mojave Phone Booth. Because the original one disappeared. It’s complicated. You are just going to have to read Doc’s book.
Sept. 20, 2018 – A 1985 Boeing 747-341 was converted into a moving art experience for Burning Man 2018 by the Big Imagination Foundation. Big Imagination exists to advance art and recreation through engineering, arts, sciences and humanitarian efforts. The 747 Project.
Aug. 30, 2018 – A look at what goes on in and around the small towns of Nixon, Empire and Gerlach, Nevada, along the way to Black Rock City for Burning Man 2018.
June 2, 2018 – Exploring the Black Rock Desert arid region of lava beds and alkali flats composing part of the Basin and Range Province of northwestern Nevada with an area of about 1,000 square miles, the desert is 70 miles long and up to 20 miles wide.
Feb. 13, 2018 – Reno, Nevada is currently experiencing a revitalization. Downtown and Midtown are being transformed at an accelerated rate as citizens crave the unique Reno urban art experience. Multimedia specialists at the University of Nevada, Reno have captured images of the art and created a digital archive. Reno Street Art Digital Collections at University of Nevada, Reno.
Jan. 24, 2018 – One million soldiers in the world’s largest military maneuver area of 18,000 square miles in the Mojave Desert between 1942 and 1944 training for desert warfare preparing for the WWII invasion of North Africa. This is the history, relics and remains of the Desert Training Center.
Nov. 8, 2017 – The 2018 BLM Nevada calendar is now available. Thirteen photos were selected from 155 submissions. See the submitted photos here and see the final selected photos here.
Oct. 13, 2017 – Working with Art Spot Reno on the 2017 Reno Mural Expo which brings 30 artists from around the globe to paint 31 new murals in the city. Read more about the Reno Mural Expo here and click on the photo to see the new murals.
Aug. 29, 2017 – A look at what goes on in and around the small towns of Empire and Gerlach along the way to the official opening of Black Rock City for Burning Man 2017.
July 9, 2017 – Driving, walking, searching, exploring and prowling side streets and back alleys to photograph all the wall murals in Downtown and Midtown Reno. View photos in the mural gallery.
Sept. 29, 2015 – Project Faultless at the Central Nevada Test Area was used in the 1960s for underground nuclear testing. Faultless was detonated Jan. 19, 1968, with a yield in the 1 megaton range, 67 times more powerful than the bomb used at Hiroshima. View the Project Faultless gallery.
July 18, 2015 – CNN iReport “First US National Drone Racing Championships”
July 16, 2015 – US National Drone Racing Championships. 120 of the finest FPV drone racing pilots will compete over two days at the California State Fair. View the 2015 Drone Nationals gallery.
June 28, 2015 – CNN iReport “Thunderstorm Starts Fire in Nevada”
June 23, 2015 – CNN iReport “California Fire Threatens Markleeville”
June 21, 2015 – CNN iReport “California Washington Fire”
June 19, 2015 – The Washington Fire caused by a lightning strike is burning 8 miles south of Markleeville, California. View the Washington Fire gallery.
June 14, 2015 – Fort Ord, home to the 7th Infantry Division, is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay of the Pacific Ocean coast in California. It opened in 1940 and closed in 1994. View the Fort Ord gallery.
May 27, 2015 – The Electronic Warfare Complex is the nation’s only drive-thru electronic warfare park. View the Electronic Warfare Complex gallery.
May 26, 2015 – Project Shoal was an underground 12 kiloton nuclear detonation Oct. 26, 1963, as part of the Vela Uniform Program by the U.S. Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission. View Project Shoal gallery.
May 19, 2015 – CNN iReport “Queen of the Comstock”
May 14, 2015 – CNN iReport “Solar Flux”
Sept. 29, 2014 – CNN iReport “When the Romance Ends”
Sept. 28, 2014 – CNN iReport “Trains Across the Mojave”
June 22, 2014 – The Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station’s reactor entered commercial operation in 1975. In 1978 an event at the plant lead to the third most serious nuclear safety-related occurrence in the United States and it closed in 1989. View Rancho Seco Nuclear Station gallery.
April 21, 2014 – CNN iReport “Death Valley National Park”
Feb. 28, 2014 – CNN Featured iReport “Drone Journalism”
Jan. 28, 2014 – CNN iReport “Drought in the Sierra Crest”
Jan. 23, 2014 – CNN Featured iReport “A Warm Summer Beach”
Jan. 20, 2014 – CNN iReport “Severe Drought Continues at Lake Tahoe”
Jan. 19, 2014 – CNN iReport “Bonnie Claire Abandoned”
Jan. 18, 2014 – CNN iReport “Abandoned Buildings in the Great Basin”
July 28, 2013 – CNN Featured iReport “The Alien’s Mailbox”
July 9, 2013 – CNN iReport “Emergency Declared for Nevada Wildfire”
July 7, 2013 – CNN Featured iReport “Air Resources Attack Nevada Wildfire”
July 6, 2013 – CNN iReport “Nevada Wildfire Grows to 2,000 Acres”
July 5, 2013 – CNN iReport “Homes Threatened in Nevada Wildfire”
July 4, 2013 – The Bison Fire caused by a lightning strike is burning along the western slope of the Pinenut Mountain range in Douglas County, Nevada. View the Bison Fire gallery.
June 23, 2013 – CNN iReport “Saturday Night Lights”
June 12, 2013 – CNN Featured iReport “Lake Tahoe Area Wildland Fire on Kingsbury Grade”
April 30, 2013 – CNN iReport “Techatticup Mine Ghost Town”
April 2, 2013 – CNN iReport “No News at the Opera House”
April 1, 2013 – CNN iReport “Campground Host”
March 24, 2013 – CNN iReport “Controversy Shadows a Pristine Desert Ghost Town”
March 24, 2013 – CNN iReport “Mars in the Mojave Festival – Exploring Extremes on Earth and Beyond”
March 23, 2013 – CNN iReport “VLBA: Owens Valley”
March 23, 2013 – CNN iReport “Shoshone After Dark”
March 23, 2013 – CNN iReport “Not a Care in the World for This Coyote”
March 23, 2013 – CNN iReport “Death Valley Is the Hottest Place on Earth”
March 9, 2012 – Mars in the Mojave Festival featuring NASA and SETI scientists and National Park Service interpreter guided field trips, evening speakers, panels and star-gazing. View the Mars in the Mojave gallery.
April 16, 2011 – Death Valley’s “Walk for Life” raises funds to support community members struggling with the consequences of cancer. Funds are raised through bakes sales, raffles and donations from the kindness of people’s hearts. View the “Walk for Life” gallery.
Aug. 10, 2010 – Story about the search and recovery of a person who decided to disappear in Death Valley. Read “Finding Norman.”
Desert Fog 