Morongo Basin

Morongo Basin lies on both sides of Highway 62 as it runs from Twentynine Palms to Morongo Valley. Twentynine Palms, with its Marine Base to the north, Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center to the south, and a flood control canal right through the middle, is far too clean-safe to be a B-West town. I would give it a rating of no more than a 1 1/2 (although I admit I haven't checked out 29 Palms Inn).

Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree (the town, not the park) are, however, solid 3-out-of-5s. Ricochet is the reason to go to Joshua Tree.
Store = Ricochet
If Ricochet doesn't have the thing you are looking for, it's arguable the category doesn't exist. It is a veritable solar system of stuff, stuffed tight into a tiny niche snug enough for a clutterist like me--clothes and carrots, cappuccino and ice cream, news and newspapers, works of art and soft cheese, wine for drinking and boots for walking.

Up the road going west is Yucca Valley.
Town = Yucca Valley
It's best to admit right off that sometimes you find A-West items in B-West places. Such is the case inside Water Canyon Coffee Company.
Cafe = Water Canyon Coffee Company
Organic coffee ground on the spot and three places to sip it, outside (where tires on macadam make considerable noise), on the ground floor where they grind the beans, and upstairs on an inside balcony where the LATimes is likely to be lying around. All this is nice, but the reason to go is the bran carrot muffin with walnuts on top. It's shipped in from a bakery in Palm Desert, refrigerated and wrapped in plastic, all of which says, "Don't buy me." But do anyway.

Close by, on the same side of the street, is New Age Concepts.
Store = New Age Concepts
This store is the spiritual twin of Ricochet. The religion that can't be found here may not exist. Varieties of Buddhism, Tibetan and otherwise, versions of Christianity, denominations out of the Near East, Greece, Persia and Egypt. The incense of the place is a tribute to the globalization of religion, all this in a desert town far out on the skirts of Los Angeles.

Around a big curve on Highway 62 and a coast downhill is Big Morongo Canyon Preserve.
Preserve = Big Morongo Canyon Preserve
Park = Covington Park
Together with adjacent Covington Park it is a stopover for spring migrating birds and a gathering spot for members of the American Volkessport Association. From the warning signs it is apparent that cougars find Big Morongo Canyon a good hunting Preserve. A raised boardwalk meanders through an almost waterless marsh and well maintained trails head out into the desert and up the canyon sides. Workers weed cut invasive grasses that provide fodder for hot weather fires. Big Morongo and Covington are ideal plots to test the difference between preserve and park.

Circumdrive = Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, North Entrance Station, Skull Rock, Barker Dam, West Exit Station