This Former Cabin Is a Now Stunning $4.5 Million Desert Wonderland

Anyone in the market for an eclectic, custom-designed oasis in the desert would do well to consider making a home out of the expansive Mojave Rock Ranch in Joshua Tree, California. For those of us with wallets just a few pennies shy of the $4.5 million asking price, we’ll just have to take a moment to exhale and marvel in unison at the property because it’s a pretty remarkable take on desert living.

Set in the middle of 225 acres, the one-bedroom, one-bath property includes a stone house, a helipad, several decks and patios to take in the sweeping panoramic desert views, multiple outbuildings, a heated pool and spa complete with pool house, a wine cellar, a museum that details the ranch’s colorful history, self-sustaining lily ponds, an automatic watering system for the trees and a jail cell from the Wild West.

Owners Gino Dreese and Troy Williams have enhanced the natural charm of the ranch – originally a 1950s cabin – by adding a series of personal touches throughout, such as the embellished stone walls which contain various boulders and colored glass the pair bought during their global travels. Kristin Scharkey writes in DESERT magazine:

An outdoor bench is made of pieces from the sidewalks of Copacabana, a planter from rocks off the coast of Baja (their plane had to “take out some fuel to accommodate the rocks”) and a bedroom patio with street tiles from Amsterdam.

Dreese and Williams also mention to DESERT that the yellow barrel cacti that blanket the property has become their “theme plant.”

All in all, the Mojave Rock Ranch has undergone an amazing 22-year transformation, and it’s likely that the only challenge to be faced by the lucky person who lands this property is coming up with even more creative ways to make it more whimsical and inviting than it already is.

Mojave Rock Ranch is listed for $4.5 million.

h/t Curbed