Map of Joshua Tree National Park, California by USGS, 1986: Pinto Mountain & Pinto Basin
Restored in our London workshop from the original 1987 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.
Restored in London • Printed and framed in the UK
Restored from the original 1987 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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If you want to add a gift message, or a finish (jigsaw, aluminium board, etc.) that is not available here, please request it in the "order note" when you check out.
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Published in 1987 from 1986 US Geological Survey work, “Pinto Mountain” captures a dramatic portion of the Mojave Desert at a moment...
Continue readingPublished in 1987 from 1986 US Geological Survey work, “Pinto Mountain” captures a dramatic portion of the Mojave Desert at a moment just before Joshua Tree’s elevation from national monument to national park. This provisional USGS topographic map focuses on the rugged country around Pinto Mountain and Pinto Basin, where desert plains rise into broken ridges, washes, and rocky uplands. At a scale of 1:24,000, it offers an unusually intimate view of the terrain, rendering the landscape not as a vague expanse but as a highly legible system of elevations, drainages, roads, and wild interior spaces. The result is a precise, quietly elegant portrait of one of Southern California’s most distinctive desert environments.
The United States Geological Survey brought to this map the disciplined visual language that made its topographic series indispensable to scientists, land managers, engineers, and explorers. Standard USGS symbols and colors organize the desert into a readable hierarchy: contour lines describe height and slope, washes trace the movement of rare but powerful desert water, and roads and trails mark human passage through an otherwise austere terrain. The provisional classification gives the map particular interest, suggesting a working cartographic document issued to make current information available while refinements could still follow. Its shaded relief and careful linework give Pinto Mountain a sculptural quality, allowing the viewer to sense ridgelines, basins, and intervening valleys with remarkable clarity.
Pinto Mountain itself anchors the composition, rising above the broad basin country that defines this part of Joshua Tree. The surrounding Pinto Basin is a landscape of openness and subtlety, where great distances, alluvial slopes, and dry washes create a topography that is both spare and intricate. The map also identifies Joshua Tree Wilderness and the protected desert lands now associated with Joshua Tree National Park, an area celebrated for its namesake trees, cholla gardens, granite formations, and stark ecological contrasts. Various unnamed trails and roads thread through the sheet, evoking field travel, park management, and the long history of movement across the desert by Native peoples, prospectors, ranchers, naturalists, and modern visitors.
Historically, the map belongs to an important transitional era in the conservation story of Joshua Tree. In 1986, the area was still known as Joshua Tree National Monument; it would become Joshua Tree National Park in 1994 through the California Desert Protection Act. This makes the map a valuable record of the landscape before that major legislative redefinition. It preserves evidence of access routes, wilderness boundaries, and land patterns at a time when desert preservation was gaining national urgency. The Pinto Mountain and Pinto Basin region also speaks to broader environmental themes: changing land use, fragile desert ecosystems, groundwater concerns, recreational pressures, and the ongoing effort to balance public access with protection of rare flora, geology, and habitat.
What makes “Pinto Mountain” especially compelling is the way technical cartography becomes a form of desert portraiture. The close 1:24,000 scale reveals the minute architecture of arid terrain: gullies, slopes, saddles, ridges, and basin margins emerge through a dense choreography of contour lines. Unlike more decorative historical maps, this sheet derives its beauty from restraint and precision, transforming scientific measurement into visual atmosphere. For admirers of the American West, Joshua Tree, and the cartographic language of the USGS, it offers both practical detail and historical resonance. It is a map of high desert solitude, conservation history, and geological drama—an understated but powerful depiction of one of California’s most memorable landscapes.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Joshua Tree
- Joshua Tree Wilderness
- Pinto Mountain
- Pinto Basin
- Joshua Tree National Park
- Various unnamed trails and roads
- Geographic features such as hills and valleys
Historical context & cartographic details
- Produced by the US Geological Survey and categorized as a provisional map
- Created in 1986, with a publication imprint of 1987
- Published by the US Geological Survey, a leading authority on mapping and geospatial data in the United States
- Uses standard USGS topographical symbols and colors
- Contour lines depict elevation and relief
- Shading enhances the three-dimensional representation of the terrain
- Scale of 1:24,000 provides detailed insight into the mountainous and rugged landscape around Joshua Tree National Park
- Reflects environmental changes over time, including land-use alterations, conservation efforts, and surrounding ecosystem changes
Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.
Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.
This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.
The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.
Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.
Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.
This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.
For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.
Published in 1987 from 1986 US Geological Survey work, “Pinto Mountain” captures a dramatic portion of the Mojave Desert at a moment just before Joshua Tree’s elevation from national monument to national park. This provisional USGS topographic map focuses on the rugged country around Pinto Mountain and Pinto Basin, where desert plains rise into broken ridges, washes, and rocky uplands. At a scale of 1:24,000, it offers an unusually intimate view of the terrain, rendering the landscape not as a vague expanse but as a highly legible system of elevations, drainages, roads, and wild interior spaces. The result is a precise, quietly elegant portrait of one of Southern California’s most distinctive desert environments.
The United States Geological Survey brought to this map the disciplined visual language that made its topographic series indispensable to scientists, land managers, engineers, and explorers. Standard USGS symbols and colors organize the desert into a readable hierarchy: contour lines describe height and slope, washes trace the movement of rare but powerful desert water, and roads and trails mark human passage through an otherwise austere terrain. The provisional classification gives the map particular interest, suggesting a working cartographic document issued to make current information available while refinements could still follow. Its shaded relief and careful linework give Pinto Mountain a sculptural quality, allowing the viewer to sense ridgelines, basins, and intervening valleys with remarkable clarity.
Pinto Mountain itself anchors the composition, rising above the broad basin country that defines this part of Joshua Tree. The surrounding Pinto Basin is a landscape of openness and subtlety, where great distances, alluvial slopes, and dry washes create a topography that is both spare and intricate. The map also identifies Joshua Tree Wilderness and the protected desert lands now associated with Joshua Tree National Park, an area celebrated for its namesake trees, cholla gardens, granite formations, and stark ecological contrasts. Various unnamed trails and roads thread through the sheet, evoking field travel, park management, and the long history of movement across the desert by Native peoples, prospectors, ranchers, naturalists, and modern visitors.
Historically, the map belongs to an important transitional era in the conservation story of Joshua Tree. In 1986, the area was still known as Joshua Tree National Monument; it would become Joshua Tree National Park in 1994 through the California Desert Protection Act. This makes the map a valuable record of the landscape before that major legislative redefinition. It preserves evidence of access routes, wilderness boundaries, and land patterns at a time when desert preservation was gaining national urgency. The Pinto Mountain and Pinto Basin region also speaks to broader environmental themes: changing land use, fragile desert ecosystems, groundwater concerns, recreational pressures, and the ongoing effort to balance public access with protection of rare flora, geology, and habitat.
What makes “Pinto Mountain” especially compelling is the way technical cartography becomes a form of desert portraiture. The close 1:24,000 scale reveals the minute architecture of arid terrain: gullies, slopes, saddles, ridges, and basin margins emerge through a dense choreography of contour lines. Unlike more decorative historical maps, this sheet derives its beauty from restraint and precision, transforming scientific measurement into visual atmosphere. For admirers of the American West, Joshua Tree, and the cartographic language of the USGS, it offers both practical detail and historical resonance. It is a map of high desert solitude, conservation history, and geological drama—an understated but powerful depiction of one of California’s most memorable landscapes.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Joshua Tree
- Joshua Tree Wilderness
- Pinto Mountain
- Pinto Basin
- Joshua Tree National Park
- Various unnamed trails and roads
- Geographic features such as hills and valleys
Historical context & cartographic details
- Produced by the US Geological Survey and categorized as a provisional map
- Created in 1986, with a publication imprint of 1987
- Published by the US Geological Survey, a leading authority on mapping and geospatial data in the United States
- Uses standard USGS topographical symbols and colors
- Contour lines depict elevation and relief
- Shading enhances the three-dimensional representation of the terrain
- Scale of 1:24,000 provides detailed insight into the mountainous and rugged landscape around Joshua Tree National Park
- Reflects environmental changes over time, including land-use alterations, conservation efforts, and surrounding ecosystem changes
Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.
Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.
This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.
The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.
Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.
Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.
This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.
For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.
Many of our maps and art prints are chosen as thoughtful gifts for homes, offices, studies and meaningful places.
Choose a framed option for the easiest ready-to-hang gift, or choose an unframed print if the recipient may prefer to select their own frame.
We make orders locally in 23 countries around the world, so gifts can often be produced close to the recipient. This helps them arrive faster, travel more safely, and avoid customs or import duty surprises.
- We can deliver directly to the recipient
- Framed pieces arrive ready to hang
- Unframed prints are carefully packed in a strong protective tube
- Almost every order is made locally, for faster, safer gifting
- 90-day returns give the recipient time to decide
If you are not sure what to choose, please contact us. We can help you pick the right map, size, finish or delivery option.
Most orders are made locally and delivered in around 2–3 working days, depending on the product, size and destination.
We print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world, so your order is usually made close to you or your recipient. That means faster delivery, less time in transit, and no customs or import duty surprises.
Personalised and customised pieces usually take an extra 1–2 working days, because we prepare your design and send it to you for approval before printing.
Very large framed orders can take a little longer, as they need extra care in production and delivery.
Every order is carefully packaged: unframed prints are sent in a strong protective tube, while framed pieces are securely packed with protective materials around the frame.
If you need your order by a particular date, please contact us before ordering. We’ll check the best production route and delivery option for your location.
Express delivery is available at checkout for most countries. Next-day delivery is available in the UK, US, Singapore and the UAE.
Your order is covered by our 90-day returns policy and 10-year guarantee.
Our standard frame is a gallery-style black ash hardwood frame, with a simple, modern look. It is approximately 20mm (0.8in) wide. You can also view some lovely customer photos of framed maps and art.
We use super-clear acrylic glazing, also known as Perspex or Acrylite, instead of traditional glass. It is lighter, safer, and has lower reflectivity, giving the artwork a clearer, cleaner appearance.
Six standard frame colours are available at no extra cost: black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white, and antique gold. Custom framing and mounting/matting is also available for customers looking for something more specific.
Most maps, art prints, and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced wooden box frame, and then float the piece within a wooden outer frame. The finished result is beautifully presented, with no glazing between you and the artwork.
All frames are supplied ready to hang, with either string or brackets fitted to the back. Very large frames will include heavy-duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag, and other materials.
If you would prefer to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read our size guide before ordering.
We work with interior designers, hospitality businesses, property professionals, offices and corporate buyers on individual pieces and larger coordinated projects.
This map can be adapted for a particular wall, room or project, and our workshop can help coordinate the dimensions, material and framing before production.
- Exact, oversized and made-to-measure dimensions
- Custom framing, mounting and alternative materials
- Coordinated pieces for several rooms or locations
- Map personalisation, to mark important locations or add extra details
- Map and framing guidance from our workshop
- Local production for projects around the world
Every Unique Maps piece begins with an authentic cartographic source or an original design from our London studio.
For our historic maps, we source rare originals from libraries, archives, auction houses and private collections around the world. We carefully restore each map for print—repairing age-related damage, balancing colour and improving clarity while preserving its original detail, texture and character.
Once restored, the map is prepared for your chosen size and finish. Your piece is then printed and, where selected, framed close to its delivery destination.
Our map prints use acid-free 200gsm archival matte paper and fade-resistant pigment inks, creating a rich, non-glossy finish designed to last. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
Canvas, cotton-rag and other specialist presentations are also available. Learn more about our materials and finishes.
Personalising your map
You can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. For personalised designs, we send a proof before printing and you can request changes before approval.
For more complex bespoke commissions, contact our design team.
Original or Aged
Choose Original for true-to-source colour, or Aged for a warmer, richer antique character created with our specialist ageing process. See examples of our Aged maps.
We’ve been restoring and producing maps and art prints since 1984, and we stand behind every piece.
Every order is covered by our 10-year guarantee and damage-free delivery guarantee. If your piece arrives damaged, we’ll replace or remake it free of charge. If anything else isn’t right, contact our workshop team and we’ll put it right promptly.
See our returns and refund policy for full details.
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