V6E5 - Adventure on the Mojave Road

Written By Chris Shontz / @Venture4WD

Each week, I study maps to seek out the most interesting routes between where I am, and where I’d like to be. Usually, the process is like throwing a dart at the map. If my GPS indicates that there’s a vast network of roads in the middle of the wilderness, I plot a course to explore that area. However, this week was different. I knew full-well that I would be heading in the same direction as the Mojave Road, a 130 mile primitive track that crosses the desert between Barstow, California, and Laughlin, Nevada. I found a downloadable track online, loaded the route into my GPS, and set off on the Mojave Road, traveling from west to east.  

Afton Canyon Campground

The designated route followed a well-maintained dirt road that led to Afton Canyon Campground. This is a nicely-equipped BLM campground with sheltered picnic tables, fire rings, vault toilets, and water sources. It cost $6 per night to use a site, and all one had to do was fill out a slip and drop the money into a metal post. It was well worth the $6 to spend my first night on the Mojave Road in such a comfortable campground - despite the noise from the occasional passing train!  

In Deep Water

The next morning, I continued traveling east, and things became interesting very quickly. While the Mojave River is mostly a trickle, almost immediately after leaving the campground, it had pooled over the road - which was gravel at this point, and clearly doubled as a service road. I knew it was reasonably deep, but the water was still, and I determined that it was safe, so I eased the Jeep through at a slow-but-steady pace, for roughly 75 feet. The Jeep had no trouble at all. When I reached the other side, I got out to inspect, and the water-line was a few inches over my door sills. While the Jeep didn’t accumulate water, my floor carpet was noticeably wet. For this reason, I opted not to make a second pass for the camera! The water crossing was seemingly without consequence.  

Wet Soda Lake

Miles passed before I entered the Mojave National Preserve, which is managed by the National Park Service, and contains the majority of the Mojave Road. There, I descended into the “dry” lake bed of Soda Lake, which the Mojave Road traverses for roughly four miles. Toward the western side of the lake, there is a monument that consists of a large pile of rocks, like a cairn, in remembrance of what happened there so many years ago. I’m not supposed to share what is written on the plaque at the center of the monument. You’ll have to see it for yourself! However, when you do travel the Mojave Road, don’t forget to bring a rock to add to the pile. The dry lake, as it turned out, was very wet from the recent rain, consisting of one-inch deep surface mud for the entire distance of the bed. This made me wary. It was very slick and sloppy, but the Jeep wasn’t sinking into the mud, so I pushed forward at a steady pace, unavoidably flinging a ridiculous amount of mud all over the Jeep.  

The Lava Tube

Following a good night of sleep in a thoroughly soiled Jeep, I set off for the Lava Tube, in Mojave National Preserve, marked as a point-of-interest on my GPS, and only a short distance to the north of my route. The Lava Tube is a volcanic cave embedded in the hillside. There is a short hiking trail from the parking area, and the first thing you’ll encounter is a small hole in the ground - a window down into darkness. Though if you continue walking up the hill, you’ll come to a metal ladder that descends into the cavity. After climbing down the ladder, you’ll pass through a short archway which then opens up into a spacious room. Beams of daylight shine through the small holes in the ground above. The cave is approximately 100 feet deep, so it’s a short, fifteen minute excursion, but it’s very interesting, beautiful, and absolutely worth a side trip!  

Exploring Kelso

Within the Mojave National Preserve, there is a former train station called the Kelso Depot. It used to be owned by Union Pacific, but it was taken over by the National Park Service and now serves as a visitor’s center for the preserve. It looked interesting, and it was a beautiful structure, but unfortunately, it was closed during my visit. Nevertheless, there was a paved parking lot, public restrooms, and running water - all of which I took advantage of as I passed through the area, en route to Kelso Dunes. The dunes are gigantic mountains of sand located in the desert, not far from the depot. They are accessible via hiking trail and certainly worth the strenuous slog through deep sand to reach their dramatic summit. Be forewarned, you will get sand in your shoes, and if the wind is up, it’ll find its way into your ears, clothing, and camera equipment. It was chilly, windy, and overcast during my visit. The conditions weren’t ideal, but it was still an amazing experience. Not far from the trailhead, there was a primitive area where one could deploy their camper for the night.  

Sway Bar Woes

A feature that is specific to the Wrangler Rubicon, which I use extremely often, is the electronic sway-bar disconnect. It enables the driver to disconnect the front sway-bar at the touch of a button, thereby allowing the suspension to better articulate when in four-wheel drive, at low speeds. Doing so greatly enhances traction and driver comfort on varied terrain. Following the deep water crossing a couple days before, my electronic disconnect stopped working. The sway-bar light then started blinking incessantly, indicating an issue. This gave way to a glitchy gauge cluster, and dashboard lights flashing nonsensically. I Googled the problem and pulled fuse J11 under the hood, which disables the electronic sway-bar system. This remedied the general glitchiness, but also takes the sway-bar disconnect offline. As I’m typing this, things look bleak for my electronic sway-bar disconnect, but there is still hope that it’ll come back to life when it dries out!  

The Final Leg

A few days had passed, and I was starting to get low on fuel. My GPS reported that I still had 60 miles left of the Mojave Road before I reached its terminus. So I picked up the pace to make a big eastward push. Eastbound, after Kelso, the Mojave Road wanders up into higher elevations, where I was met with a dusting of snow and frigid temperatures. This section of the road was graded and well-maintained so I was able to keep a reasonable speed for several miles, before it returned to two-track that meandered through forests of Joshua Trees. After passing a couple of historic structures along the way, which I took time to investigate, the route descended the mountain near the eastern border of California, where it crossed a major highway. It was here that I branched off to refuel, with only an eighth of a tank to spare.  

An Unceremonious Ending

The “finish-line” was the intersection of two non-descript gravel roads on the western bank of the Colorado River. There weren’t any named signs or indications that this was the beginning or end of a route of significance, just an arbitrary point on my GPS. The Mojave Road was an epic overland adventure, but when I think back on it, it really doesn’t matter that there wasn’t a defined ending. In fact, I wouldn’t have it any other way... This just means that the adventure never really ended at all. [gallery columns="5" size="large" ids="https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-2.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-1.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-3.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-4.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-5.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-6.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-7.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-8.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-9.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-10.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-11.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-12.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-13.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-14.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-15.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-16.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-17.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-18.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-19.jpg|,https://ok4wd.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v6e5-20.jpg|"]