We are a Museum of the cultural history, natural history and geology of the Northern Mojave Desert emphasizing our Indian Wells Valley. We are located in Ridgecrest, California.
Maturango Museum, 100 E. Las Flores Ave. Ridgecrest, CA 93555 (760) 375-6900,
Fax 375-0479
The bright orange Home Depot is across the street from us...
The Museum is OPEN from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EVERY DAY of the week.
This page has been visited
times since Nov. 8, 1995. Not bad for a little museum "in the middle of nowhere!":-)
Index to all the things we do!
Saturday, May 10 is also Astronomy Day at the Museum. Solar Viewing with special scopes will occur between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Viewing will resume at 8:30 p.m. using the various telescopes in our dome, and those of other China Lake Astronominal Society members. Until 10:30 p.m. No charge.
Silent Auction - Silver Elephant Silent Auction will take place the afternoon of Sunday, June 8, from 1-4 p.m. in the Sylvia Winslow Gallery. We need your help to donate items for this gala affair - "A-1 stylish and usually elegant Junque".... the funds will go toward the Elva Seat of Knowledge which now graces our garden.
PETROGLYPH TOUR INFO!!--Pet Info Page; Only U.S. Citizens are allowed to go up there. Dates posted below and on the Info Page. Tour Application form. If you're still getting Fall 07 dates, please empty your browser's cache and try again! Use this link - it works. **trips are full through May - still some spots there and in June.
Spring Trips to neat places. See Below! New trip just added - May 31, another special by Phyllis Hix.
"Off the Highway" article in the May newsletter is referring to places listed on our "Trips from Ridgecrest" web page - lots of local news, then farther down, all the neat places to explore up to 3 hours from Ridgecrest.
Jane Burbank-Larson has retired to move to Montana as of 2/29/08 and Karen Mendoza is now the Museum's Administrator. Do stop by and say hi to Karen!
Road Reports: the Southern Sierra has gotten a lot of snow this winter, so there's till a lot of snow
above 7500 ft. down here. The Kennedy Meadows Road is open and snow-free to the KM Store, but ice beyond there
and snow from Fish Creek campground onward but plowed to Blackrock. Gates are locked at Blackrock.
Whitney Portal Road is now plowed all the way to the pond. Lots of snow there!
All paved roads in Death Valley are fine, the dirt 4x4 roads are now OK. Some of the campgrounds
are closed for the summer.
We're part of ESCHA - Eastern Sierra Cultural and Heritage Alliance effort. Come to the Museum and get a brochure which lists 20 neat spots between Ridgecrest and Bridgeport on Hwy 395 to stop and visit. Get your "Passport" stamped at our Museum, and then go get the rest too! We don't have the CD here, but you can download the audio bit and play it as you enter the Owens Valley,as most of it relates to the Paiute people and Cerro Gordo - get it from www.roadsideheritage.org, plays on your computer, MP3player, or cut a CD and listen to it in your car as you drive. 30 min, nicely done.
Scotty's Castle Organ Concert - June 13, 14, 15. Only 3 hr. drive from Ridgecrest. Reserve tickets through Death Valley Natural History Association.
Check out Danny Foster's neat fountain in the Gladys Merrick Garden, at the "Exotics" mound near the office- a nice sheet of water flows down over a large boulder. Birds, lizards, etc. love to drink from it. It is dedicated to Sue Byrd.
The Prospectus for Artists wishing to be considered for a one or two month Exhibition
in The Sylvia Winslow Gallery at the Maturango Museum in 2009 is now available.
The Maturango Museum endeavors to serve the community by offering high quality art exhibits
in the Sylvia Winslow Art Gallery. For a Prospectus, call, or write the Museum for an application.
If you wish, we will e-mail you a copy of the prospectus, or click
here for a pdf version. E-mail Rosemary at matmus5@maturango.org.
Entry deadline is May 31, 2008.
LOCAL WEATHER - go to www.ridgenet.net there's a little box with current weather info, and under it a place to click for "more info" - do that and you get current stuff and can ask for 10 day forecast, current doppler radar map, surface map, and earthquake map!
It takes only 10 min. longer to go to Las Vegas from Ridgecrest through Death Valley and via Hwy 190 to Death Valley Junction and Hwy 160 to Pahrump and to I-15! If you're coming up Hwy 14, it's way faster to get to Death Valley via Ridgecrest and Trona than Hwy 190 from Olancha.
ADMISSION IS FREE TO THE MUSEUM STORE AND VISITOR CENTERS where we have free maps, and lots of good tourist information.
Death Valley Tourist Center
-maps, books and videos for sale, and free information
about the Park. 
Click for a file of information about Tourist Info for Death Valley
National Park including Scotty's Castle tours, travel directions, sights, camps,
phone numbers, etc. Most campgrounds open. The Inn is open and Sunday Brunch happens,
11 a.m.-2 p.m. Daily tours at Scotty's Castle, but no gas there- plan ahead.
If
you have any questions about a specific area, call us or the park before you go! (760)
786-3200. Come to the Museum to get information and the park newspaper and let us help
you plan your trip to this wonderful desert Park! FYI - photos
of snow and Death Valley's lakes FULL of water! taken January 12 and 16, 2005,
SNOW on Emigrant Pass pictures!
**We have DV Landsat map- colorful and a must-buy! If you click
ON the map, you'll get a much bigger version of it.
More details about other ideas of
things to see and do on your way to DV can be found on the Trips from
Ridgecrest page. Lots of updates and good current information on the top of that page!
We have the book "Death Valley and the Northern Mojave, a Visitor's Guide"- great
maps and photos of popular places to visit.
It's winter and the Sierra passes are closed due to snow. Be sure to check with CalTrans
for other road conditions, particularly Hwy 395 and 14. 1-800-427-7623. Northern Mojave Visitor Center
-information on other places to visit in the
Northern Mojave desert.
Looking for something to do? New in town? Haven't even been to Trona?
How about cats? trains? Indians? Click for DAY TRIPS from Ridgecrest
Exploring the Northern Mojave Desert- a file-full of ideas for places to go from Ridgecrest which
are 1/2 hour, 1, 1.5, 2, and 3 hours from town in all directions- Mojave Desert, Antelope Valley,
Southern Sierra, Owens Valley, etc. Hard copy is available for sale in the Store. **- on the web
page are recommendations for places in their prime right now! Current conditions in Yosemite,
Bodie, Mammoth, etc. Check it out! We also have Chamber brochures for most towns up Hwy 395,
maps, etc. and of course all sorts of info about Ridgecrest. Stop in - it's all free!
A list of nearby Chambers of Commerce,Visitor Centers, Museums, etc.
Hamil Ma Prints! Liz Babcock
can make prints of these two Hamil watercolors on order, using archival inks and nice paper;
11x14 = $40, 13x16"=$50. To order, call Karen. 
Mountain Scene 
Maturango
Peak
Lectures are usually on
2nd Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. Sandy Rogers is coordinating-
*May 14, Shellie Ellis, "Raptors"
Chamber Concerts at the Museum
Concerts are held every so often on a Friday, sometimes repeating on a Saturday, starting at 7:30 p.m.; admission $8, $5 children under 12; - buy tickets early, limited seating and they usually sell out before the concert!
returns in the fall
2008
Sylvia Winslow Exhibit Gallery Shows 
The Prospectus for Artists wishing to be considered for a one or two month Exhibition
in The Sylvia Winslow Gallery at the Maturango Museum in 2009 is now available.
The Maturango Museum is a cultural and natural history museum of the Indian Wells Valley.
Located in the Mojave desert, it endeavors to serve the community by offering high quality art
exhibits in the Sylvia Winslow Art Gallery. For a Prospectus, call, or write the Museum for
an application. If you wish, we will e-mail you a copy of the prospectus,
or click here for a pdf version. E-mail
Rosemary at matmus5@maturango.org. Entry deadline is May 31, 2008.
The Friday evening of the opening of each show is an "Artist's Reception" from 7:00 to 9 p.m. At 7:30 p.m. there is a presentation by the artist. The art pieces are for sale, prices are listed on a brochure and on the object's title tag. A portion of the sales benefits the museum.
March 15 - May 7; Mildred Reynolds, Batik
May 10-July 9; Twyla & Hal Wardell, High fire Stoneware clay
July 12- Sept. 10; Museum Curators - things from our collections
September 13 - Oct. 8; Maria Prebilic - Digital prints, woodcuts, paintings
October 11 - Nov. 12; Open Studio Artists - Open Studio Tour Oct. 25-26
November 15 - January 8; Susan Dunker, Oil & pastels
360 degree PANORAMA (3.3 MB) of the current Art Show Download, and move it with your mouse! Some pictures can be instantly enlarged by clicking on them. Mark has also been making the art titles and price tags available at the click of a mouse. These are COOL! (big file- opens with QuickTime) See Hints for using Quicktime
PAST ART SHOWS
Click here for a file of movies of our shows from December 2002
onward!
Quicktime is a free download.
See Hints for viewing panoramas if you're new to Quicktime.
Other Events which happen at the Museum which might interest you too...
HIGH TECH THINGS!
QuickTimeMovie Player is needed- check your machine to see if you have a current version
- 7x for both Macs and PCs.
See Hints for viewing panoramas
if you're new to Quicktime and panoramas.
** Cool movie of our Saber Tooth Cat
doing its thing,with growl even! Download the kitty movie (it's big-840K file)
***and thanks to Mark Pahuta, we have a 360 degree panorama of the Sylvia Winslow
Art Gallery Shows stitched together.
ART SHOW Current art show movie
Wickiup Project- Wickiup Project Movie
PAST ART SHOWS Click here for a file of movies of our
shows from December 2002 onward!
Check out a full panorama of the Museum Exhibits in
the North Gallery! (1.3MB file)
and a look around the Museum Store
Zoom in to check out the merchandise, then come buy it! (964K file)
Many thanks to Mark Pahuta! His talents with both the camera and the
computer have made all these possible!
Permanent Exhibits in the Museum's North Gallery.
See full QuickTime panorama of the Exhibit room and Children's Corner, and you can move your curser up and down to see the birds even!
Relics
from various mines which have been give to the Museum
The bell from the Little Lake Hotel.
The white dome by the labyrinth is the Museum's
observatory.
We occasionally have public "star parties."- at 8:30 p.m.
If you'd like to
schedule a group to visit the telescope on a special occasion contact us!<
/P>
Cool photo from Don Witcher's little radio controlled plane
** The Labyrinth is "open" at any time -come on over and stroll
around
and around and around it! Try it under a full moon :-)
Mark Pahuta has made a panorama of the Labyrinth!
It's interactive, as are the rest - you can move around within it.
Hold your mouse pointer down at one edge of the photo and watch it rotate!
It's a large file, 514 K, but have fun!
Gladys Merrick Xeriscape Demonstration Garden - Thanks to a grant from the Indian Wells Valley Water District for materials and lots of donated labor, we have installed a watering system which will meter each of the three "mounds" for water used, once the plants are established. We hope to show that desert plants don't need much water after they get going, but Exotics do. Plants are arranged by where they are found in our deserts - the mound closest to the parking lot has plants normally found in the "Low Desert," i.e. Colorado Desert and Sonora Deserts of Southern CA, AZ, etc. They don't like freezing, but don't mind heat. Lots of cactus types. Plants in the next mound are from the "High Desert," both the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts. They don't mind freezing but don't like too much heat. Grasses, yuccas,hardy perennials. The mound nearest the new office building is labeled "Exotics" - plants from drought areas on other continents. They are often planted as ornamentals here because they can stand heat and freezing. There is a list of the names of these plants available at the Store Counter. We have room for more plants - if your garden has some to spare which fit into these three categories, please mention this to the Store attendant and the Garden committee will be contacted. Thanks! More to come - interpretive signs, etc.
Gladys Merrick loved desert plants and her yard was full of them. She always offered tours to anyone interested, but especially during our annual Wildflower Shows. We moved some of her plants to this garden as we set it up, and we honor her memory fondly. She gave so much of herself to the Museum - docent, wildflower illustrations, etc.
Be sure to go stand by the new Sue Byrd water feature near the Exotics mound, made by Danny Foster as a part of his Eagle Scout project. See who comes by to get a drink!
Shouldn't YOU be a member of our Museum? Then you get a reduced tour fee and you'd be able to join us on neat trips which are for Members only! Click here for Membership Application!
Petroglyph Tours! Petroglyph Tour
Info Page- all you need to know! - Current rules and regulations.
Only United States citizens are allowed to go at this time. All persons now
must bring "proof of U.S. citizenship" like a valid passport or birth
certificate, etc. Reservations must be made at least 10 days before the trip
as paperwork gets turned in to the Navy then. No last minute additions or substitutions
are allowed. The Museum recommends long pants and "sturdy"walking shoes.
Hiking poles with rubber tips (required) really help.
No large vehicles or campers allowed. ***Be sure if you drive that you have your
current driver's license, current registration papers, and current insurance cards. They
will be inspected at the gate! No papers, no go.
Download and print
this application and follow directions. No reservations by phone, please!
Spring 2008 dates:
March 29, 30
April 5, 6, 19, 20, 26, 27
May 3, 4, 17, 18, 24, 25
June 7, 8
Saturday, May 3 - The Huntington Library, Art Collections and
Botanical Gardens: a bus trip
We are thrilled to offer this trip to visit the HuntingtonŐs spectacular new Chinese Garden
- Liu Fang Yuan or Garden of Flowing Fragrance - just opened in February. We have scheduled
a special docent-led tour at 9:30 a.m., hence our early departure. The guided tour lasts
approximately one hour.In addition to the Chinese garden tour, there will be plenty of time
to visit other parts of the Huntington. The botanical gardens cover 120 acres, and include
the famous Rose Garden, which will be blooming, and the Desert Garden, a large outdoor grouping
of mature cacti and other succulents. There is also a special exhibit in the Library honoring
the late Jack Smith, well known Los Angeles Times columnist. Please reserve by April 14! Cost is
$60 for members including bus, admission and guided tour, $75 non-members.
SATURDAY, MAY 17 - Little Lake Ranch Petroglyph sites
with Sandy Rogers
Little Lake represents one of the few perennial water sources in an arid land,
and the area offers an outstanding display of Native American Rock art, both petroglyphs
(carved or pecked figures) and pictographs (painted figures.) The images are quite similar
to Coso rock art, with the addition of some Mojave Desert and Great Basin styles.
There is a major late prehistoric Paiute-Shoshone winter village site toward the southwest
edge of the lake, named Pagunda (Lake), with rock art, artifact scatters and rock rings.
The major concentrations of rock art are at Atlatl Cliff, around Pagunda, and at the south
end of the lake. All are spectacular! This land is private property, and we are thrilled
to be allowed access for this trip. Those who attended the Annual Dinner heard about this area.
Please Reserve by May 12. Waiting list active. $35 mem, $50 non mem.
SATURDAY, MAY 31 - MCFARLAND TOLL ROAD OVER THE GREENHORNS with Phyllis Hix
Join us as we travel part of a Tubatulabal trail up into the Greenhorns to a spectacular and large
archaeological site. Then drive via 4-wheel to a hostoric place under massive trees along Ice House
Creek to the stagecoach toll house that was forged out of the wilderness. This trail
is apart of the Visalia-to-Whiskey-Flat trail system.
The group will meet at the Museum at 6:30 a.m., then meet Phyllis at her office in Kernville.
This involves a serious 4x4 road (or you can walk down and up). The group will then eat a late
lunch at Phyllis' home on the Kern River, returning to Kernville 2-3 p.m.
.
Please reserve by May 28. Strenuous walking required. $30 members, $45 non-members.
Travel with the Museum to exotic places! Trips led by Leo Girardot, recently retired professor of history and psychology at Cerro Coso Community College. Phone (760) 375-8737 and leave a message. Turkey April 15 - May 4. Click here for itinerary, prices, etc.
Become a member of the Maturango Museum!
Membership in the Museum helps support our services to the community and entitles you
to special benefits including free admission anytime, monthly newsletter with all our events listed,
members-only receptions and field trips, reduced fees on regular field trips including to
Little Petroglyph canyon, and a 10% discount on purchases in the Museum Store.
Come on in and join, or click here for membership application!
Annual memberships are: Family: $50; Individual: $40;
Senior (55) family: $45; Senior (55) $35
Return to Index
Museum Information:
Museum Entrance Fee: The lobby with tourist information and Museum Store
is open to the public, free.
Exhibit room and art gallery:
Free to members; $5.00 for adult nonmembers;
$3.00 students, seniors,
military; Children under 6 free
Museum Hours: Daily 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (closed major holidays).
Telephone: (760) 375-6900, Fax (760) 375-0479.
Address: 100 E. Las Flores Ave. (at China Lake Blvd., across from Home Depot.)
Ridgecrest, CA 93555.
Wheelchair accessible: We have two handicapped parking spaces,
one of which is van-accessible, and two ramps to our doors. The building is on one level.
Restrooms meet code. We do not have a power-assisted door, but there are always people at
the counter who can open the door if needed.
E-Mail: Please note we now have
six e-mail accounts, suffix numbers matter! In an effort to hide from "spam bots,"
this is a graphic and the handy "mail:to" hotlinks are gone. Sorry... you'll have
to type it in the old fashioned way...
Changes: Our web pages have been moved to a different server, so you may need to update your Favorites or Bookmarks- you can only get us using www.maturango.org now, (no more Ridgenet.net/~matmus.)
The Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert is a separate organization from the Maturango Museum. P.O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA 93556-2001. They provide displays for the Museum and have their own speakers and field trip programs. Check out their Home Page! It contains the HSUMD Newsletters,and an ever-expanding chronology of historical events in Kern, Inyo, and Mono Counties.
We have neighbors... A whole list of nearby Visitor Centers, Museums, Chambers of Commerce, etc.
Kern River Preserve
in Weldon has lots of neat activities
all the time!
Incredible web site by Kernville's Alison Sheehey
Beautiful photos of local plants and animals,
with data, etc.
Searles Valley, Trona, etc., has a very active Historical Society with three museums, and a world class Searles Lake Gem and Mineral Society. Check out their web pages!
Go to:
The top of this page
Go to: Death Valley information page Pages of updated info about our neighboring valley!
Go to: Trips from Ridgecrest info page- Exploring the Upper Mojave Desert - Ideas of trips to take 1/2 to 3+ hours from Ridgecrest; how to make camping reservations; other current info.
Go to: Historical Society info page History of some local areas, long history of events in our "backyard," and latest news from our Historical Society, newsletters, etc.
This page maintained by Janet Westbrook.
Send e-mail to matmus@maturango.org
at the Museum about museum matters and petroglyph trips,
and to Janet about how to get to places,
find us, etc.
Revised 4/29/08