Red Rock Canyon is a fantastic area of cliffs, washes, badlands and beautiful rock formations about 25 miles north of Mojave on Highway 14 in Kern County, just at the confluence of the southernmost Sierra Nevada and the El Paso Range. Aside from its wildflowers, it is also a significant paleontological area with fossils dating back 8-10 million years which when I was a volunteer at the La Brea Tar Pits I visited several times on Museum-sanctioned fossil hunts.

Fanleaf
Psathyrotes annua
Asteraceae

Thick-leaved phacelia
Phacelia pachyphylla
Hydrophyllaceae

Saltgrass
Distichlis spicata
Poaceae

Silver cholla
Opuntia echinocarpa var. echinocarpa
Cactaceae

Mojave brown-eyed primrose
Camissonia claviformis ssp. claviformis
Onagraceae
[Named for Ludolf Karl Adelbert von Chamisso, 1781-1838

Scaly-stemmed sand plant
Pholisma arenarium
Lennoaceae

Spiny chorizanthe
Chorizanthe spinosa
Polygonaceae

Royal desert lupine
Lupinus odoratus
Fabaceae

Yellow comet
Mentzelia affinis
Loasaceae
[Named for Christian Mentzel, 1622-1701]