1983 Map of West of Palen Pass

About this map

Granite Mountains dominate the northeastern portion of this arid landscape, giving way to the expansive floor of the Palen Valley. Surveyed in the late 1970s and edited in the early 1980s, the map reveals a remote desert environment defined by shifting Sand Dunes and the drainage patterns of a large Dry Wash. Human infrastructure is sparse, limited to a Single Steel Tower Powerline cutting across the terrain and occasional markers of land management like a Check Dam. The inclusion of the Coxcomb E. Base (2-75A) geodetic point provides a specific anchor for those tracking historical surveying work in Riverside County. The network of an Unimproved Road suggests the difficulty of transit through this valley floor before modern paving reached such isolated stretches of the California desert.