Winter's a great season to explore Death Valley National Park, Mojave National Preserve, and Joshua Tree National Park/Kurt Repanshek

If you'™ve got some extra time in California this winter, take a detour to three fascinating desert parks. Winter in the Mojave Desert brings blue skies, cool temps, and fewer visitors.

Start in the vast expanse of Death Valley National Park, less than 300 miles from the urban sprawl of LA. It'™s a spot unique on Earth, with high, snow-frosted 11,000-foot peaks towering over a valley that drops 282 feet below sea-level. Perhaps you'™ll spot some Desert Bighorn Sheep, a coyote loping for lunch, or a roadrunner making tracks. There are whimsical salt formations, reflective pools, and hidden side canyons. There are date palms, historic borax mining equipment, and volcanic craters.

Take a tour through Scotty'™s Castle, one man'™s dream retreat, or drive to Dante'™s View as the sun leaves the valley. It'™s a big park, with lots to see, and it'™s a lot easier when the temperatures are in two, not three, digits.

Then head south 150 miles towards the Mojave National Preserve, the third-largest park unit in the lower 48. Leave the LA-Vegas corridor of Interstate 15 behind you as you head south from Baker, California, along the Kelbaker Road. Past cinder cones, lava beds, the Devils Playground, and the Kelso Dunes, stop at the Kelso Depot 35 miles south, built in 1924 by the Union Pacific Railroad. Spend a day or all winter exploring this vast, dry region.

Now, head south into Joshua Tree National Park via Highway 62 at Twentynine Palms. Here the low Colorado Desert meets the high Mojave Desert, forming granite domes, rugged mountains, and surreal geology that lures hikers, desert rats and rock climbers from around the world. Cold nights and warm days make for ideal treks into palm-lined oases. Or, bike the dirt roads and watch the climbers scale the rocky heights.