Sand-draped Cronese (“Cat”) Mountain, in the Central and arid Mojave Desert, projects northeast in finger-like fashion to nearly join the northwest trending Soda Mountains, and to separate the adjacent Cronese Valley into east and west, but interconnecting, playas. Each valley contains a dry lake. The sand-filled Cronese Valley as a whole is an integrated part of the Mojave River system and has been since late Pleistocene (Tioga) time. Beach sand deposited during the high-water stand of the old Lake Cronese (Little Lake Mojave) is source material for the climbing and falling dunes. . . .