About US cities--if you see broken windows, get out of there. That is the best test of a bad neighborhood.
I'll just post the desert tips, because some apply whether you're in town or not.
Drink lots of water. You are going to sweat and you are not going to notice how much because it is a dry heat and it evaporates. You'd feel a dampness at your collar and armpits and forehead. If you don't keep drinking you just get stupid, and then you pass out. It is the law in CA at least that every restaurant or hotel that serves water must give you a glass for free if you ask for it. If you feel unreasonably sleepy--not just tired, but sleepy--sit up and have some water and a handful of nuts. The military rule of thumb is, if your pee is colorless, you are drinking enough water.
If you are crossing between Vegas and Los Angeles, or heading out to Palm Springs, you will be crossing one of the last wilderness areas in North America, and it can kill you if you are not careful. Treat your car with the respect you'd treat a boat if you were sailing onto the ocean--because the environment is just as hostile as the Atlantic. You can't walk out if it goes sour.
That's the first rule to remember--you can't walk out. Don't forget it. Don't allow the confusion of dehydration or sunstroke to confuse you on that point, because that's what gets people killed. They think they can walk out. Then they think leaving the road is quicker. Then they wind up walking in circles. Then they die. Meanwhile the searchers found their wrecked car within a day or two but the bodies are two miles into the brush and may not be found for a year. If your car breaks down, stay by the car. Don't sit in the car, it will be twenty to thirty degrees hotter than the direct sunshine and that will kill you. Dig a shallow pit next to the car, in its shade, and lie down in that all day.
Pack about twenty liters of water, a kilo of nuts, some blankets, a shovel and some canned heat in the trunk against real emergencies. Don't snack on it.
Have somebody fairly reliable you'll call every night, who knows what route you're taking, and call them on a schedule. That way, if you have trouble, that person can call the county sheriff and get a search going in the right area within hours, not days. For the same reason, if you see a sheriff station or ranger station, drop by, tell them where you're headed and ask about how long to get there. That way, if your pal calls for help, it helps narrow down the search. They really go all out on the searches, aircraft and dozens of vehicles and hundreds of volunteers. If you give them a break they'll save your ass. BTW they are getting pissed off at yahoos going offroad against the law and getting lost and requiring a full search, so if you get stuck because you did something illegal, they save you and then give you a six-figure bill for the search.
Be advised we use national terms like "National Forest" to cover an area that might have trees, and might not. Los Angeles National Forest is in the mountains and has tons of pine trees. San Bernardino National Forest has some mountains with lakes, lots of trees, but it also covers flat desert scrubland. Ask the Forestry Dept about where you're headed so you know what to expect. The lakes will be very popular come July 4 which is our Independence Day, everybody's off work. The lakes and mountains are cooler as you may expect.
Death Valley is called Death Valley because people die there. It's got no water but poison ponds. It is a prehistoric evaporated seabed full of salt flats and bare rock. It is probably 50 Celsius down there. People who hiked it in summer report the heat of the desert floor warped the soles of their boots around their feet. It's a cool place to visit in December when it's freezing cold, but not in summer.
IF you are out in the wild and a storm comes, get onto high ground. Our flashfloods can drop an inch of water in an hour, but there's nothing but bare rock to soak it up, and it just turns to runoff. 2 meter waves down canyons are not uncommon in a summer storm.
Be advised, too, that August is when rattlesnakes molt. Most half-ways urban settings you won't have to worry about them, but if you're in the hills or deserts stay out of the bushes and off the rocks, because when they molt they get irritable and they are more likely not to rattle before striking. If you see one leave it alone because they're legally protected.
Now having warned you about the dangers which are real, it is still a beautiful state to visit and move through. I used to bike 100 miles a week in summer heat, I just took care about wearing light colors and clothes and getting enough water. One of the really weird things about California is how easy it is to get back to nature. There's some hills back of my house that are too steep to build on, and when you get 1k from the highway it is totally quiet. The sky overhead is a pure deep blue and red-tailed hawks circle through it. If you sit still you might see a jackrabbit, maybe even a fox. There are low mountains near my apartment that even have some cougars in them, though you DON'T want to meet them... those are the places where you have to watch for the snakes btw. At twilight small bats come out for the insects.
The core joke of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is that of course no civilization would develop personal computers with instant remote database recovery, and then waste this technology to find good drinks.
Steve Jobs has ruined this joke.
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