After returning from our trip to Michigan, I shifted gears and dove into preparing for our roadtrip to Arizona at the end of September. Our plan was to meet up with Chris’ daughter and her wife Saturday afternoon in Baker, California and travel the Mojave Road back to their place in Tucson. Information on the National Park Service website at the time indicated a few road closures and detours that would impact our drive: the passage over Soda Lake was closed due to the rains from Hurricane Hilary as was a section near Fort Piute. All these things taken together meant we’d miss the first 40 miles, but I was sure we’d get to see and experience plenty of the iconic overland route.
And we did! Here’s a video of our amazing trip.
Before heading to Baker, Chris and I explored 10 miles of the Mojave Road between Camp Cady, its western terminus, and Field Road. It was a beautiful drive through sandy washes and past tall cliffs.
Together with our traveling companions, we entered the Mojave National Preserve on Kelbaker Road and drove south along an unnamed dirt road that went around some low lying hills and then paralleled Soda Lake before connecting with the Mojave Road. In the end, we spent two nights in the desert and arrived at the overland trail’s eastern terminus on the shores of the Colorado River in Nevada, a little before 2 P.M. on Monday. While we did encounter a few other groups – most heading west—it was often just us for long stretches of time, never another soul in sight.
Along the way we stopped at landmarks: the Lava Tubes, the Mojave Mailbox and the Penny Can.
We also experienced varied landscapes that included craggy mountain cliffs and fields of Joshua trees.
For the most part, the road wasn’t too difficult to traverse. There was only one section at Watson Wash, a steep hill, that we opted not to do. Otherwise, it was mostly sand, though nothing that required us to air down, with some rocky, rutted stretches. It’s possible, however, that the two areas we missed due to storm and fire damage—between Field Road and Soda Lake, and from east of Lanfair to Fort Piute—may have been more challenging.
Like most well-worn routes around the world, the Mojave Road started as a foot trail used by the Mojave Indians to conduct trade with other tribes. Driving the road was an opportunity for us to journey through the desert wilderness and to travel in time and imagine what it must have been like when the Mojave first wandered this land hundreds of years ago.
I see the potential for another trip, not only because of the hauntingly rugged and beautiful landscape, but also because we missed parts of the trail that likely would have been a fun way to test our off-roading skills.
Additional Info
- The National Park Service website provides important information regarding road conditions.
- The Mojave Road Guide by Dennis Casebier is a valuable planning tool. Directions are provided traveling east to west.
- We stayed at two dispersed campsites along the way:
- Rainy Day Mine Camp (35°11’07.3″N 115°51’10.0″W). Located near the lava fields not far from Kelbaker Road.
- Mojave Bus Camp (35°07’10.5″N 115°06’54.5″W). Located east of the Penny Can. Large area with space for multiple vehicles.