Mojave National Preserve – The Essentials

There’s a good chance that if you’re a Southern California driver and old enough to gamble (or maybe not), you’ve driven to Las Vegas. Every Saturday, thousands of drivers jump in their cars and towards Sin City on Interstate 15. As they say, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” but eventually they all drive home with more or less money. I too have been to Vegas on this notoriously-congested freeway. On the drive out, I’m usually thinking about how much fun I’m going to have and where I’m going to have it. On the return trip, I’m reminiscing about about how I spent too much, partied too much, or did too much of too much. Rarely am I concentrating on more than the vehicle in front of me.

This is probably why I’ve never heard of the Mojave National Preserve until recently. The Mojave National Preserve is a large piece of land outlined by the Nevada border to the east, Highway 40 to the south, and Interstate 15 to the north. When the land was protected in 1992 by the Desert Protection Act, it became the third largest national parkland outside of Alaska. It is so big in fact, it has a state park within it: Providence Mountains State Recreation Area.

I’ve been through the preserve a few times now, most recently in mid-January for a camping trip with Team WWED?. One thing I’ve learned is that some time spent researching and planning a trip prior to arriving at the preserve makes for a more enjoyable and stress-free trip. Here are ten tips for planning a trip to the Mojave National Preserve followed by five suggested sights.

1. Study a map

Don’t underestimate the size of the Mojave National Preserve.  With 2,500 sq. miles (6,475 sq. km) of land, it’s slightly smaller than the state of Rhode Island.  Thanks to the Internets, you can check out the official map of the park online. Or you can download the PDF (4.1 MB).  There’s also a few printed maps of the area on the market. I recommend this one.

2. Check the weather

The altitude varies greatly throughout the preserve, ranging anywhere from 3,600 feet in the southerly Old Dad Mountains to 6,163-foot Kessler Peak in the north. Although wunderground.com can provide reliable city-based weather forecasts, I prefer weather.gov, which allows you to click on specific spots on a map.

3. Get your vehicle checked

Bring your vehicle in for a check-up before heading out into the desert. Fluids should be changed or topped off. Make sure that they take a look at your radiator as well.  You don’t want anything to fail when you’re out in the middle of nowhere.

When you return from the desert, you should clean or replace your air filters.  You can make your own private beach with the amount of sand you might find in there.

4. Gas up the car

On a fall trip to the Mojave, I made the mistake of not filling up my car’s gas tank. “Three fourths of a tank should be fine,” I thought to myself.  Fast forward two days and six hikes later, I’m coasting down the freeway going 45 mph hoping to make it to the pump.  There are no gas stations in the preserve.  If you’re coming in from I-15, make sure to fill up at either Baker or Valley Wells Station.  If entering from the south, fill up in Barstow or Ludlow.  From the east, Needles is your last stop.

5. Get an early start

With so much to see, why waist it in your tent or RV?  In my explorations of the area, I’ve found the best time to explore is just after sunrise.  Take an early-morning hike in the Keslo Dunes and chances are you’ll be enjoying a couple dozen square miles all to yourself. Have fun adding your boot prints to the countless animal tracks that crisscross the desert sands as you make your way to the highest dune.  The early morning start will provide you with harder ground to walk on.  The higher the sun rises in the sky, the more the sand liquidates due to the heat.

6. Check with the rangers

Kelso Depot is the oasis in the preserve. The old train station was saved from demolition in the late 80s and after extensive work, reopened in 2005 as the main visitors center of the Mojave National Preseve.  The building houses a ranger station, museum, gift store and cafe. The BLM rangers love to share their endless-knowledge on what to see in the preserve.  Upon request, they’ll fire up their 12-minute video in the small theater.  I was very impressed by the production value of the short film and the stunning scenery filmed in high definition helped me decide on where to go.   From the Kelso Depot, you can find out where the good primitive campsites can be found.  They’ll also give the “official” campsites of the preserve a call to see if they are any spots available (usually the answer is “yes”).

7. Make a game plan

When I travel, I usually lay out a general itinerary with a lot of room for improvisation. A few locations work better at certain times of the day (like Kelso Dunes, as mentioned in tip #5).  Sunlight plays an important role in all life, but most particularly in the desert.  The way it interacts with the Joshua Trees, cactus, and rocks changes throughout the day.  See the Suggested Sights list below for more on this.

8. Find a campsite early

Since this park is a preserve managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and not a “National Park” per say, camping is allowed just about everywhere. The National Parks Service suggests finding a spot that has been previously camped in as to not cause further harm to the environment.  (Leave No Trace guidelines) If you aren’t into roughing it in a primitive campsite, there are a handful of developed campgrounds in the Mojave National Preserve:

• Hole-in-the-Wall Campground – $12/night. Campsites available on a first-come, first- served basis.  I haven’t camped here myself, but I’ve passed by it.  The surrounding volcanic rock walls make for a stunning place to pitch a tent or pull in a RV!  The roads to this campsite are all paved.
• Mid Hills Campground – $12/night.  A 2005 wildfire scorched this area of the preserve, but life is slowly coming back.  I rolled through the campground in early 2009 and could still smell the burnt earth.  The preserve’s website says that half of the 26 sites were untouched by the fire and still offer shade from pinyon pine and juniper trees.  Getting to this campsite will require driving over a few miles of unpaved roads.
• Black Canyon Equestrian & Group Campground – $25/night per group.  This campsite offers space for groups as large as 8 with up to 2 vehicles. Reservations are required.  The campground can be accessed without going off paved roads.

9. Learn desert driving skills

A good percentage of the roads in the Mojave National Preserve are not paved.  Exploring the park is best when inside a high-clearance vehicle, but it’s not mandatory for having a good time in the preserve.  I get around just fine in my little Dodge Neon.  But learn some of the basics of off-road travel before heading out there.  Breaking down on a street in your neighborhood is one thing, but it can be life-threatening in the desert.

10.  Carry Water

Close your eyes and imagine how much water you think you’ll need for your trip.  Can you picture it?  Great. Now triple it.  Water is essential for survival in the desert.  The dry air will cause your sweat to evaporate before it has time to wet your skin.  You should carry enough water to keep yourself hydrated (3-6 litres a day) plus an emergency supply (2-3 litres).  You’ll also need to pack an emergency supply for your vehicle. And if you plan on making a campfire, you’ll need an additional gallon or so to use to completely extinguish the coals every morning. (Some camp hosts are now carrying around a digital camera to photograph smoldering campfires. They send the photo to law enforcement, who in turn mail the offenders a citation.)

Suggested Sights

Here’s some of my favorite places to explore in the Mojave National Preserve:

1. Kelso Dunes

As a good friend told me recently, Kelso Dunes is a pristine beach without the water. Located in the center of the preserve, this large swath of sand is a sandbox for grown-ups. Take a hike hike up to the tallest of the dunes (elevation of 3,113 feet), a moderate 3-mile round trip with an elevation gain of about 600 feet. To get to the trailhead, travel turn off of Kelbaker Road onto the well-graded, but unpaved Kelso Dunes Road and head west for three miles. If hiking isn’t your thing, you can simply explore the area and its unique flora and fauna. Bring along a copy of Scats and Tracks of the Desert Southwest and use it to identify the dozens of tracks found in the area, including that of the kit fox, desert kangaroo rat, sidewinder snake, and the rare gray snout beetle, which is only found in the Kelso Dunes.

2. Lava Tube

When I show people the photo taken above, they have a hard time believing that a) there’s a lava tube in the Mojave Desert and, b) it’s an hour drive from Las Vegas. Located 5 miles down an unnamed dirt road, this lava tube was only recently added to maps of the area. Visiting this ancient cave formed by flowing lava is like becoming the star of an adventure blockbuster film. After a short 300-yard hike from the end of the dirt road, a descent down a metal ladder, and a 20-yard crawl through the narrow cave entrance, you end up in one of the most enchanting places in all of the Mojave Desert. The cozy cavern has a few holes punched through its ceiling which allows in natural light to shine in. If you are lucky, you’ll be greeted by a shaft of sunlight beaming onto the floor like the Almighty Himself is about to give you a few more commandments. The best time to see this when the sun is at the highest in the sky. I suggest running a calculation on this site to find out when that magical moment will occur. To get to the lava tube, travel 21 miles south on Kelbaker Road, then about 4.5 miles northeast on the unmarked Aiken Mine Road. Stop into the Kelso Depot for a free map to this must-visit spot.

3. Teutonia Peak

One of the most unique sights in the Mojave Desert is of the Joshua Tree. The Dr. Suessian plant – a flower, in fact – grows in abundance in the preserve and there’s no better place to see them than on the Teutonia Peak Trail. This trail, one of only a handful of maintained trails in the preserve, passes through the largest and densest Joshua tree forests in the world. Follow the ancient two-tracks up the side of the rocky mountain and get an impressive view of the area. Looking to the east from which you came, you can see the Sunset Valley and Kessler Peak, one of the highest mountains in the area. To the west is Cima Dome, rising subtly 1,500 feet above the desert floor. This subtle geologic feature covers an amazing 70 square miles of land and is the most symmetrical dome of its type in the United States. The trail is 4 miles, round trip.

4. Cinder Cone Lava Beds

Mojave National Preserve is home of the Cinder Cone Natural National Landmark, an area of the desert rich in geologic history. There are 32 little volcanoes – otherwise known as cinder cones – dotting the land in this area. Some of them seem to have roads cut into their sides offering some off-road driving adventures, but I prefer to view these impressive piles of rock from a distance. One of the best places to do this is in the Cinder Cone Lava Beds where you can walk on lava rock that is up to 400 feet thick in some places. I suggest parking on the west end of this ancient lava flow and hiking east. A good place to park is off of Kelbaker Road where it meets the large wash. Here’s a map.

5. Soda Lake & Zzyzx

On your drive out to Vegas, you might have spotted an unusual exit name: Zzyzx Road. This famous road is not only claimed to be the last word in the English language, it also takes travelers to the Desert Studies Center of the Mojave National Preserve. Used for research by a consortium of California universities, this field station is the most recent establishment in a long history of settlers going back to the 1700s. Explorers, pioneers, settlers, soda miners, religious health nuts, and even the US Army called this home at one point. The Desert Studies Center sits on layers of history, some which is quite visible. A short walk will take you past currently-occupied classrooms, dilapidated buildings, and the ruins of an old baths built in the 1940s. To the east of this archaological wonder is Soda Lake, a flat bleach-white dry lake and the remains of the ancient Mojave Lake. There’s a nice 1-mile nature trail the runs along the shoreline of this expansive dry lake and loops back to the field station around a small crag of rocks. Seeing nature is easy to do in this area of the Mojave. The tiny Lake Tuendae, located in the campus of the Desert Studies Center, draws many animals to the area, including bighorn sheep, coyotes, foxes, and over 200 species of birds. The lake itself is home of the Saratoga Spring pupfish and the Mohave tui chub, a small endangered fish found only in the Mojave.

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