Ridgecrest is located in the Mojave Desert east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and west of Death Valley. 

History of Ridgecrest 

 In 1941, the town was called Crumville.   Prior to the establishment of the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) at Inyokern in 1941, only a few scattered farms and homesteads were here. Ridgecrest was then incorporated in 1963.  Ridgecrest evolved during the 1950's and 1960's as a support community, vital to the mission of NOTS, by providing housing and services for Federal employees and contractors. NOTS, later China Lake Naval Weapons Center (NWC) was renamed again to (NAWS) home to the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Weapons Division, and continues to be the major source of employment for Ridgecrest residents.

Cities & Towns near Ridgecrest:

• Barstow, California: 88 miles southeast.
• Inyokern, California: 12 miles west.
• Trona, California: 30 miles east.
• Bishop, California: 120 miles north.
• Big Pine, California: 105 miles north.
• Lone Pine, California: 60 miles north.
• Victorville, California: 81 miles south.
• Mojave, California: 60 miles southwest.
• Lancaster, California: 78 miles south.
• San Bernardino, California: 115 miles south.

Weather / Climate

The climate is hot days and cool nights, with extreme arid conditions prevailing throughout the summer months. There are wide annual temperature fluctuations that occur from a maximum of 118 degrees F to a minimum of 0 degrees F."

Parks & Monuments near Ridgrcrest

• Death Valley National Park: 61 miles east.
• Red Rock Canyon State Park: 31 miles west.
• Saddleback Butte State Park: 98 miles south.
• Sequoia National Park (via Whitney Portal): 80 miles north.

Great riding areas 

For those who like to get out and ride quads or motocycles, there is plenty of that to do here in the desert.

Dove Springs/Jawbone Canyon which is about 45 minutes from Ridgecrest has great riding areas. 

Small sand dunes up at Olancha which is about one hour from Ridgecrest.

Searles Station which is ten minutes from Ridgecrest.  But for you that are not familiar with the desert, please stay on all roads if riding bikes or quads, don't stray off the roads because there are mines out there.

Further east is Dumont Dunes which is about three hours and Armagoso Dunes in Baty is about two and a half hours from Ridgecrest.

For the hikers, there is Sand Canyon which is about one half hour and also Whitney Portals which is a good place to hike.