NextStepDesigns

On a beautiful weekend in mid-March 2009, my 7 year old daughter Megan and I (along with a small group from MJR) took our Land Rover LR3 on the famous Old Mojave Road. Using Dennis Casebier’s wonderful and educational trail guide, we set out on our grand adventure. Unlike most modern trail books, this one purposefully does not use GPS coordinates. Instead, this book navigates you through history, referencing key landmarks and a system of rock cairns along the trail to lead the way. I love it!

We started on Friday morning at the bank of the Colorado River, where we grabbed a souvenir rock from the waterline that will be used later in the trip. From there, we headed west towards Picture Canyon. In modern times, the trail goes around Picture Canyon, but we had a chance to walk down it from the top, and it looks like it would be a lot of fun in the right rock buggy. BLM has closed it however, for reasons unknown…probably to preserve the petroglyphs found there (thus the “pictures” in Picture Canyon), but who really knows? From there, we made our way to the Nevada/California state line, in a lush green desert and granite boulder environment. We crossed US Highway 95, and continued west to Fort Piute, where we found quite a few well preserved ancient Indian petroglyphs just a short walking distance from the ruins of the old Army fort. From there, we went westward through ever changing desert environments, with clear distinctions between one zone and the next. Along the way, we stopped at the Old Bus, the Railroad monument, the Penny Can, Camp Rock Springs, and Government Hole(s), which is a still-functioning well. Nearby, is an excellent campsite called Mid Hills. A fire went through this area in 2000, and 9 years later things haven’t improved much, though you can no longer smell the burn. The front part of Mid Hills campsite is rather stark and burnt out, but the back end is fantastic, with green Juniper Pines all around, and clean vault restrooms and potable water.

The next day we made our way down to Hole-In-The-Rock, and enjoyed the unique rock formations and of course, climbing the rings! From there, we continued west towards Marl Springs and enjoyed the view of Kelso Dunes in the distance. We paid our visit at the mailbox (and frog garden?), then explored the fascinating Lava Tubes near the “recently” volcanically active area of cinder cones and lava flows. The Lava Tubes were a highlight of the trip. The short crawl on your hands and knees through the pitch black cavern is well worth it. I recommend getting there in mid-afternoon for the best sunbeam action. After the Lava Tubes, we enjoyed a fun trek through the soft sands of Willow Wash, and made our camp at the base of Little Cow Hole Mtn, forever known now as Raspberry Flats (you had to be there!).

Sunday we immediately headed out across Soda Lake to Traveler’s Monument, where we contributed our rock from the Colorado River. After crossing Soda Lake without incident, we entered the dry and wonderfully sandy wash of the Mojave River. As we neared Afton Canyon, we encountered a small rivelet of water that was fun to play in, and then made it through the deeper river crossing and stopped for lunch at the nearby campsite. At this point, most people rejoin the 15 highway, but we opted to continue west between the banks of the Mojave River, following the old route of the Mojave Road. This was miles and miles of flat, wide, sand dunes, and excellent fun! The trail ended a few miles east of Yermo, where we aired up and parted ways, with a few of us stopping at Peggy Sue’s for milkshakes before driving back to Los Angeles. A total of 170 miles of off pavement driving, following a 150 year old wagon trail. I love California!

Photos: 96 images on SmugMug