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https://www.google.com/maps/place/Silurian+Valley,+California+92364/@35.4535369,-116.2246038,24679m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c5c46823d13295:0xe1a95a1bf4e920be
By late morning I finally pulled myself away from the canyon and followed the Amargosa’s intermittent flow to the south alongside Highway 197. As the river made a U-turn around the Amargosa Range and into Death Valley, I continued south into the beautiful and remote Silurian Valley.
I pulled off the highway and headed up a dirt road toward the valley’s east rim for an elevated view toward the west. After several miles I began to get a sense of the valley’s enormous scale. It was humbling to think that well beyond the impossibly distant horizon lay even larger areas of protected desert.
Silurian Valley provides a vital ecological connection between mountain ranges, and also connects Death Valley National Park with Mojave Preserve. I was right in the middle of a critical link between two desert sanctuaries—and I couldn’t see another soul in any direction.
There was such depth to this pristine landscape; I couldn’t begin to imagine what it would have looked like covered in solar panels—and that almost happened. Last fall the Bureau of Land Management denied an application for a large-scale solar project in Silurian Valley. With any luck, that decision will help set a precedent for conservation of such wild gems.
<http://wilderness.org/photographic-tour-through-californias-desert-treasures>
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