Misplaced Pages

The Low Desert (colloquially referred to as the Desert within the region) is a common name for any desert in California that is under 2,000 feet (609.6 m) in altitude. These areas include, but are not exclusive to, the Colorado Desert and Yuha Desert branches of the Sonoran Desert, in the far southeasternmost portion of Southern California. The Low Desert is distinguished in biogeography from the adjacent northern High Desert or Mojave Desert by latitude, elevation, animal life, climate, and native plant communities.

Communities

The cities and towns in the Low Desert include:

• Coachella Valley area
  • Bermuda Dunes
  • Cathedral City
  • Coachella
  • Desert Hot Springs
  • Indian Wells
  • Indio
  • La Quinta
  • Mecca
  • Palm Desert
  • Palm Springs
  • Rancho Mirage
  • Thermal
  • Thousand Palms
• Imperial Valley area
  • Brawley
  • Calexico
  • Calipatria
  • El Centro
  • Holtville
  • Imperial
  • Niland
  • Westmorland
• Lower Colorado River Valley area
  • Blythe
  • Palo Verde
  • Winterhaven
• Salton Sea area
  • Bombay Beach
  • North Shore
  • Salton City
• Borrego Springs
• Ocotillo Wells

Parks and Protected Areas

• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
• Coachella Valley Preserve
• Joshua Tree National Park – Southern portion of the Park is included in the Low Desert, the northern portion is within the Mojave Desert
• Salton Sea State Recreation Area
• Indio Hills Palms Park
• Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
• Big Morongo Canyon Preserve

Wildlife refuges and wilderness areas

• Coachella Valley National Wildlife Refuge
• Imperial National Wildlife Refuge
• Havasu National Wildlife Refuge
• Cibola National Wildlife Refuge
• Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge
• Fish Creek Mountains Wilderness
• Santa Rosa Wilderness
• Indian Pass Wilderness
• Whipple Mountains Wilderness
• Sawtooth Mountains Wilderness
• Little Picacho Wilderness

See also

• Category:Populated places in the Colorado Desert
• Category:Protected areas of the Colorado Desert
• Category:Wilderness areas within the Lower Colorado River Valley
• Category:Flora of the California desert regions
• Category:Mountain ranges of the Colorado Desert

References

1. Deserts at California Natural Resources Agency web site Archived 2013-05-04 at the Wayback Machine
2. "California Deserts 101: High Desert vs Low Desert". Sand-boarding.com. Retrieved 12 June 2023.

v t e Greater Los Angeles Area
Counties	Los Angeles Orange Riverside San Bernardino Ventura
Cities and towns	Central city Los Angeles 200k–500k Anaheim Fontana Irvine Long Beach Moreno Valley Oxnard Riverside San Bernardino Santa Ana Santa Clarita 100k−200k Burbank Corona Costa Mesa Downey El Monte Fullerton Garden Grove Glendale Huntington Beach Inglewood Jurupa Valley Lancaster Murrieta Menifee Norwalk Ontario Orange Palmdale Pasadena Pomona Rancho Cucamonga Rialto Simi Valley Temecula Thousand Oaks Torrance Ventura Victorville West Covina 50k–100k Alhambra Aliso Viejo Apple Valley Arcadia Azusa Baldwin Park Beaumont Bellflower Buena Park Camarillo Carson Cathedral City Chino Chino Hills Colton Compton Covina Cypress Diamond Bar Eastvale Fountain Valley Gardena Glendora Hacienda Heights Hawthorne Hemet Hesperia Highland Indio La Habra Laguna Niguel Lake Elsinore Lake Forest Lakewood Lynwood Mission Viejo Monrovia Montebello Monterey Park Newport Beach Palm Desert Paramount Perris Pico Rivera Placentia Redlands Redondo Beach Rosemead San Clemente San Jacinto Santa Monica South Gate Tustin Upland Westminster Whittier Yorba Linda Yucaipa 25k–50k Adelanto Banning Barstow Bell Bell Gardens Beverly Hills Brea Cerritos Claremont Coachella Culver City Dana Point Desert Hot Springs La Mirada La Puente La Quinta La Verne Laguna Hills Lawndale Manhattan Beach Maywood Monrovia Montclair Moorpark Norco Palm Springs Rancho Palos Verdes Rancho Santa Margarita San Dimas San Gabriel San Juan Capistrano Santa Paula Seal Beach South Pasadena Stanton Temple City Twentynine Palms Walnut West Hollywood Wildomar 10k–25k Agoura Hills Artesia Blythe Calabasas Calimesa Canyon Lake Commerce Cudahy Duarte El Segundo Fillmore Grand Terrace Hawaiian Gardens Hermosa Beach La Cañada Flintridge La Palma Laguna Beach Laguna Woods Loma Linda Lomita Los Alamitos Malibu Palos Verdes Estates Port Hueneme Rancho Mirage San Fernando San Marino Santa Fe Springs Sierra Madre Signal Hill South El Monte Yucca Valley Under 10k Avalon Big Bear Lake Bradbury City of Industry Hidden Hills Indian Wells Irwindale La Habra Heights Needles Ojai Rolling Hills Rolling Hills Estates Vernon Villa Park Westlake Village
CDPs over 25k	Altadena East Los Angeles Florence-Graham French Valley Hacienda Heights Ladera Ranch North Tustin Rowland Heights South Whittier Temescal Valley West Whittier-Los Nietos Westmont
Area regions	Anaheim–Santa Ana edge city Antelope Valley Central Los Angeles Coachella Valley Colorado Desert Conejo Valley Downtown Los Angeles East Los Angeles Gateway Cities Greater Hollywood Greater Los Angeles Harbor Area Inland Empire Mojave Desert Northeast Los Angeles Northwest Los Angeles Orange Coast Palos Verdes Peninsula Pomona Valley Saddleback Valley San Bernardino Valley San Fernando Valley San Gabriel Valley Santa Ana Valley Santa Clarita Valley Simi Valley South Bay South Coast Metro South Los Angeles Victor Valley Westside Los Angeles
Landforms	Baldwin Hills (range) Channel Islands Chino Hills Hollywood Hills Los Angeles Basin Oxnard Plain Palos Verdes Hills Puente Hills San Fernando Valley San Gabriel Mountains San Gabriel Valley San Jacinto Mountains Santa Ana Mountains Santa Catalina Island Santa Monica Mountains Santa Susana Mountains Sierra Pelona Ridge Simi Hills Verdugo Mountains
Bodies of water	Aliso Creek Arroyo Calabasas Arroyo Seco Ballona Creek Bell Creek Big Bear Lake Coyote Creek Lake Arrowhead Lake Gregory Lake Perris Lake Piru Los Angeles Aqueduct Los Angeles River Malibu Creek Mojave River Pacific Ocean Pyramid Lake Rio Hondo San Gabriel River San Juan Creek San Pedro Bay Santa Ana River Santa Clara River Santa Margarita River Santa Monica Bay Tujunga Wash

This San Bernardino County, California–related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This Riverside County, California-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This Imperial County, California-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Deserts of California
• Colorado Desert
• Regions of California
• Deserts of the Lower Colorado River Valley
• Geography of San Bernardino County, California
• Geography of Riverside County, California
• Geography of Imperial County, California
• Geography of San Diego County, California
• Geography of Southern California
• Inland Empire
• Southern California
• Coachella Valley
• Imperial Valley
• Blythe, California
• Indio, California
• Palm Springs, California
• San Bernardino County, California, geography stubs
• Riverside County, California, geography stubs
• Imperial County, California, geography stubs