Vidal, California is a small Unincorporated community located in southeastern California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, in San Bernardino County on U.S. Route 95

U.S. Route 95

U.S. Route 95 is a north–south U.S. highway in the western United States. Unlike many other US highways, it has not seen deletion or replacement on most of its length by an encroaching Interstate highway corridor, due to its mostly rural course...

, 38 miles (61.2 km) north of Blythe, California

Blythe, California

Blythe is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the "Palo Verde Valley" of the Lower Colorado River Valley region, an agricultural area and part of the Colorado Desert along the Colorado River. Blythe was named after Thomas Blythe, a gold prospector who established primary...

 and 55 miles (88.5 km) south of Needles

Needles, California

Needles is a city located in the Mojave Desert on the western banks of the Colorado River in San Bernardino County, California. It is located in the Mohave Valley, which straddles the California–Arizona border. The city is accessible via Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 95...

. The town is 22 miles (35.4 km) west of the townsite of Earp, California

Earp, California

Earp, California is an unincorporated townsite in San Bernardino County in the Sonoran Desert close to the California/Arizona state line at the Colorado River in Parker Valley....

 and 23 miles (37 km) west of Parker, Arizona

Parker, Arizona

Parker is a town in and the county seat of La Paz County, Arizona, United States, on the Colorado River in Parker Valley. The population was 3,140 at the 2000 census.-History:...

 on State Highway 62. The town is 97 miles (156.1 km) south of Essex, California. The community, which is two miles (3 km) north of the Riverside County line, lies at an elevation of 812 feet (247.5 m) above sea level. Vidal is 221 miles (355.7 km) from the city (and county seat) of San Bernardino

San Bernardino, California

San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...

, making it the second farthest town in the county from the county seat behind Earp. Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...

 spent the last winters of his life in Vidal, working claims of gold and copper he found nearby; the aforementioned townsite of Earp is located in and around those claims.

During the late 1960s, Vidal was home to Solar Lodge

Solar Lodge

Solar Lodge was a secret society that was established in 1965 and withdrew into initiatory inactivity in 1972. It was loosely based on ideas from Ordo Templi Orientis and used the curriculum of the Astrum Argenteum established by Aleister Crowley....

, a secret society

Secret society

A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...

 located four miles (6 km) south of the town center. The Lodge owned all of the businesses in the town during their time there, but left the area after several members were arrested for child abuse, in a case that became famous as "The Boy in the Box

The Boy in the Box (Vidal, California)

The "Boy in the Box" trial was held at the Riverside County Superior Court in Indio, California in 1969 and 1970. It was, at that time, portrayed as a case of child endangerment.-Investigation and Arrest:...

".

The ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 for both Vidal and nearby Vidal Junction

Vidal Junction, California

Vidal Junction, California is a small town site in the Sonoran Desert in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, United States.The town is near the California/Arizona state line immediately west of Parker at the intersection of U.S. Route 95 and State Route 62 a short distance north of...

 is 92280 and the area code 760

Area code 760

Image:Area_code_442.svg|right|Map of California area codes in blue with 442/760 in redrect 65 82 92 100 Area code 916rect 220 242 245 256 Area code 909rect 243 274 265 287 Area code 951rect 136 323 160 338 Area code 858...

.

Weather

Average temperatures in Vidal range in January from 41 °F (5 °C) to 67 °F (19.4 °C), and July average temperatures range from 78 °F (25.6 °C) to a high of 108 °F (42.2 °C). The highest temperature ever recorded in Vidal was in 1905, when the temperature reached 127 °F (52.8 °C). The lowest recorded temperature was in 1911, when a low of 9 °F (-12.8 °C) was recorded.

The part of the Sonoran Desert

Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...

where Vidal is located receives very little rainfall in a normal year. On average, Vidal Junction receives just 5.17 inches of precipitation per year, with July and January averaging just 0.27 and 0.87 inches (22.1 mm), respectively.