Campers. Off-roaders. Ufologists.
Seekers of all stripes have been coming to Giant Rock, in the Mojave Desert just north of Landers , for a very long time. “I just know there’s something majestic about that rock and that land, and it does draw people there,” says Michelle Anderson, an Orange County radio show host who recently hosted a tour of Giant Rock for attendees of Contact in the Desert, a UFO convention . “Think about all that rock has endured in terms of humanity’s history.
They say ‘if these walls could talk.’ If these rocks could talk, what would they tell us?” Here are some of the highlights. Climate & Environment A seven-story boulder on federal land has become a tinderbox of tensions over who gets to enjoy this patch of Mojave Desert, which has rapidly gentrified since the COVID-19 pandemic.
With squatter’s rights and a mining claim, prospector Frank Critzer moves to Giant Rock, reportedly using dynamite to excavate a living room and bedroom and constructing a windowed wall beneath the rock overhang. The 60-foot-thick granite roof regulates the temperature so the home stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Critzer gets to work digging roads and building an airport.
The Times reports the eccentric self-described hermit also “had a standing offer to recharge flashlight batteries by putting them under his pillow at night: “I’m so full of electricity you might as well get your flashlights recharged for nothing,’ he used to say,” .
