Mojave Desert in April

[LiveRust]

I had a convention in San Diego this month and decided to take the opportunity to explore the Mojave Desert along the way. The first stop was to be Death Valley. It had been cold and wet in Utah the week leading up to our trip. I kept assuring my wife we were going to the hottest, driest place in North America and not to worry. So Monday morning as we traveled down Highway 95 in Nevada we were traveling through 4" of snow in the higher passes.

Luckily the snow let off as we dropped down into the park.

Although the moisture had stopped, the temperature was still pretty cool. We took the opportunity to visit Scotty's Castle where we would be indoors for the next hour while the weather passed over. This house built in the 1930's by a rich capitalist by the name of Johnson from Chicago. Scotty was an opportunist who had taken advantage of Mr. Johnson leading him to believe he had invested in a mining operation in Death Valley. When Mr. Johnson came out to check on his Mine, he learned the truth, but found Death Valley and Scotty to be a nice distraction from the business world back in Chicago. Mr. Johnson would return again and again building up this incredible vacation home in the desert. This house featured many modern luxuries like air conditioning. They used wet burlap sacks hung in the basement which released cool moist air which could be diverted through vents in the home. Also water trickling down walls in the home adding humidity along with cooling the air. The park service charges for tours of the home, but well worth it in my opinion.

From Scotty's Castle we decided to head to the Devil's Racetrack. This section of the park features a fairly long stretch of gravel road. The OME suspension in the LX450 is perfect for these washboard roads. We made excellent time getting out to Teakettle Junction where we encountered two Earth Roamers along with Mr. Expedition Trailers. (sorry, forgot your name). Quick picture then we were quickly moving on.

The Devil's Racetrack features the famous mysterious moving rocks. I didn't do my research and figured when I reached the turn off with the official park service trail sign, and saw people out on the lake bed, that we had arrived. It was a cold walk out to where the other people were gathered around some rock formation. We didn't see any rocks that appeared to have moved on their own. After returning I have learned that we were at the Grandstands and the moving rocks are found farther South and East of where we were. Still, the hard lake bed was interesting and the stormy sky made for some good pictures.

Heading back to the pavement I snapped a few moving pictures of the landscape. Sorry, my wife was asleep and I didn't want to wake her by stopping.

 

[LiveRust]

We decided to spend the night at Stove Pipe Junction campground. They have bathroom facilities and a pay phone. (No signal for cell phones) We quickly pitched our Ezi Awn and made the bed. My wife recently made a set of fitted flannel sheets for the bed and the down comforter was necessary as the temperatures dropped down in to the 40's that night.

Breakfast consisted of deer Sausage, eggs, scones, and juice. My wife is willing to go camping with me, partly because I've promised to keep her warm and do the cooking.

This days travels would take us to the Borax Mine site where we learned about the 22 mule train wagons and the pretty technical process to extract the Borax from the lake bed.

This was probably the perfect week of the year to be in the desert. Recent rains had brought most of the vegetation to bloom. I have dozens of pictures of the huge variety of flowers we encountered.

When we stopped at Furnace Creek Visitors center I took the opportunity to talk to a park ranger about some possible roads. I had seen a dirt road on the map that labeled Hold In the Wall. I asked the ranger what we could expect to see on that road. He'd never heard of it. He looked up in some books but wasn't able to find any information on it. Sounded like a good road to me. The road isn't marked with any signs other than a "No camping first 2 miles" sign when you exit the pavement. The road follows a river bed for about 2 miles, then the road makes it's way through a break in the strange rock formation. Evidently the Hole in the Wall. Like much of the geology in the area this wall is twisted and lifted and gnarled from the movements of the earth and volcanic activity.

 

[LiveRust]

Back on pavement we headed up to Dante's View point. It is a narrow twisting road that gains elevation pretty quickly. Made me wish I had 4:88 gears to assist in getting my heavy Lexus up the hills. At the top of the hill you are greated with an incredible view down into Badwater Basin.

A view back at the road we came up.

Heading back towards Furnace Creek we pulled off at Zabriskie Point for another look at amazing landscape.

We headed back to Furnace Creek where we found a shady picnic table for lunch. Furnace Creek is an interesting oasis in this dry desert. Palm trees and various shrubs and cactus are everywhere.

After lunch we headed west through the park and to a little town called Lone Tree. Lone Tree sits at the base of Mt Whitney and is also famous for the number of movies that used it's unique rock formations for westerns. The Lone Ranger series were evidently filmed here along with some Bonanza episodes and many John Wayne movies. We posed for a few photos with our Land Cruiser.

 

[LiveRust]

From here we headed South on highway 395 to San Diego.
On our return trip to Salt Lake we traveled past Borrego Springs

again we found everything in blossom.

Next we travelled along the West shore of the Salton Sea and into Joshua Tree National Park. Stopping at the visitors center we again consulted with the park ranger and a map. Heading into the North East corner of the park on the map was a dirt road. The ranger said we would need a high clearance 4X4 to make it up and out the other end of the road to exit onto highway 62. Music to my ears. We made some sandwiches and hit the road. The dirt road in this area of the park actually leads to several old mines. We took time to get out and explore some of the mines and take a few more pictures.

I could see on the GPS that we were getting close to highway 62. I figured any dirt track leading over the mountain ahead of us would eventually lead us down to the highway. I happened to choose a seldom used rocky trail.

It did eventually lead us down to the highway. It was a big relief when it finally happened! Once on Highway 62 we headed East

eventually leading to my new favorite highway 95. Sweet road! of course taking this road at sunset made it all the nicer.

We spent the night in Mesquite NV. In the morning we entered Utah via the old highway 18. This is the only area of Utah that fits the description of Mojave Desert. I had learned a few things about Joshua Trees. The Mojave Desert is defined as desert where Joshua Trees are found. We had driven through almost the entire boundaries this week of the Mojave Desert. Amazing scenery, the Lexus ran great, Weather turned out to be good and I was able to travel through several new areas. I love exploring new and remote places. Couple more Arizona and Utah Joshua Trees as we finished this trip through the Mojave Desert

 

[ttora4runner]

Nice report Troy.

 

[Borrego60]

If I was not in Fl right now on a reunion I would be in Borrego. Nice report and great pictures.

 

[stolenheron]

beautiful little desert iguana you saw.

 

[CJCA]

beautiful little desert iguana you saw.

Yup, cute little guy.

Great pictures! And it seems like it's been decades since I last saw an aluminum can pull tab. Can't say I miss the sight of them. Doesn't look like Iggy likes them either.