Mojave National Preserve somewhat of a trip report....

Txn2daBone

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2008
Posts
150
Location
San Antonio, TX
I spent four days camping on the west side of the preserve(mostly desert) since it's at a lower elevation than the east side(kinda getting up in the mountains). One of the rangers mentioned that it was still close to freezing at night in the mountains so that pretty much made up my mind as where to stay. Each day was sunny and around 70 with the nights cool and breezy but so nice. Here are a few photos with a brief description of each...

Kelso Depot Visitor Center...It's a restored Union Pacific Railroad Depot
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The Kelso Beanery was restored to it's original state as it looked back in the 50's. They serve a light menu such as salads and sandwiches and a few desserts.
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I ran across this white SMB parked a few doors down from me in the parking lot. A guy came up to me that was driving one of the CJ7's and expressed an interest in moving up in class to a used SMB. I mentioned a certain forum that may be of particular interest to him.
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Kelso Dunes in the background which rise 600ft and cover 45 square miles
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Cornfield Spring Campground...This was my original destination but along the way there was a 200ft section of a very steep uphill grade that was washed out. Imagine one leg being about a foot and a half shorter than the other and trying to walk. That's about the angle that my SMB would have been leaning to and I could see myself getting in a bit of a jam coming back down...so I spread my wings and this chicken decided to just hike in and check it out.
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Found an abandoned mine while hiking...
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Open mine shaft...
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Looking down into the shaft...
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Entrance to a Lava Tube...
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One of the campsites...
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Just driving around...
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and the last few are just some of the evening colors...
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I plan on heading back to check out the Eastern half a bit later in the year.

Thanks,
Ric
 
Really Nice Area during the winter time. We often camp at mesquite springs at the only 2 trees in the whole area. See bottom of this link. Nice shade spot and camp spot.
http://michael1111.blogspot.com/2007/11 ... phone.html.
The petroglyphs on the hill of rocks behind the trees. The link shows the general area. The trees and petroglphs are off west the main crucero trail to and near the megaphone facing the tracks. You can also take the trail north and cross Broadwell Lake bed, popping out behind a Dairy Queen Trucker Stop next to freeway 40.
http://michael1111.blogspot.com/2010/02 ... -lake.html
 

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