>>1864278The Mojave is fucking beautiful. Mojave National Preserve has a couple cool mountain ranges and it's a lot more remote. Of course it's unbelievably hot this time of year though, but it's also got the darkest skies you can see in SoCal if you go at night.
Otherwise the mountain ranges that border the cities are real crowded for hikes on the weekend, so your best bet is to go early on a weekday.
