Nestled in the far off landscape of Pipes Canyon (near Pioneertown) are a few High Desert Test Site artworks awaiting visitors willing to drive the dirt roads to the 100-acre site where they rest.

The most immediately visible artwork is Scout Regalia’s Trail Registry, a large wooden frame fitted with aluminum rods for visitors to take or leave notes or moments from or on. The frame visually dissects the bit of desert visible between the aluminum rods. It looks like a giant musical instrument for the wind.

The next most visible artwork is Halsey Rodman’s gradually/we become aware of/of a hum in the room, a three-sided structure divided into three identical rooms. Each of the three rooms holds a circular window through which visitors of all kinds (human, animal, spiritual) can enter and exit. Light streams through each window to cast circular shapes across the brightly painted walls, and through the spaces between the walls and roof to cast fascinating geometric patterns across them.

The last easily discoverable artwork is Tao Urban’s Tap Water Pavilion, a small structure under the sun that holds three twenty-five liter jars of water from three different rivers, the Sacramento, Owens, and Colorado. Between each jar of water there’s a bench and a cup dispenser, where visitors can sit and enjoy the refreshment.

To read more about the current, less visible, or former artworks on the parcel, visit http://highdeserttestsites.com/sites/andys-gamma-gulch-parcel