Explore California’s Mojave National Preserve and all its awesomeness.
The first stop on a 11-day California road trip, the Mojave National Preserve, is literally in the middle of nowhere in southeastern California. It is also huge, over 1.6 million acres of desert. Here you can find mountains, sand dunes, canyons, ruins and, of course, desert plants, including Joshua Trees. The preserve is amazingly scenic. The landscape changes tremendously from mountains of 7,000 feet to salt flats. You can find ruins of mines, historic buildings, including a ranch, and even a preserved train station.
Let’s start at Kelso, California, which is now basically a ghost town. Here you will find an old train depot now restored and used by the National Park Service as a visitor center. Kelso was founded to serve as a railroad station on a train line that ran between Utah and Los Angeles. Kelso boomed for a while between the 1920s and 1940s when borax, iron, gold and silver mines opened nearby. These mines, however, only lasted for about a decade or so. Kelso basically shrank to nothing after that. There was also not much need for the depot once diesel trains came into existence. It survived into the 1980s but was closed down after that. The National Park Service finished renovating the structure in 2005.
The depot was built in the 1920s in the California Spanish Mission style. It had rooms for employees and a restaurant for visitors.
Across the road from the depot is Kelso’s abandoned post office.
Not far from the abandoned town of Kelso are the Kelso Dunes. The tallest of the dunes are over 650 ft (200 m) high. I don’t have a good track record while hiking in sand. I usually tend to hurt myself in some fashion, so I stayed on the bottom.
The Kelso Dunes are very impressive.
A closer view of the dunes from the trail. Some of the dunes “migrate” (i.e., blown to a different location) and others are held in place by vegetation.
Kelso Dunes are three miles down a ruddy old road that is somewhat paved.
A very beautiful area.
It may seem like an endless, barren desert but the Mojave is full of life. Due to the recent monsoonal rains, the park was extremely green, when it would have been completely bone dry only a few short months before.
Some wonderful views from near the top of the peak.
I chose to hike the Teautonia Peak trail on the northern side of the park. It was a wonderful trail through the densest Joshua Tree forest in the world to the top of Teautonia Peak, which has fantastic views. I did not quite make it to the very top of the peak due to the threat of rain (a common theme for the next couple of days).
Joshua Trees are not actually trees, but members of the desert yucca family. They do look like trees though. They are very particular about where they grow.
Teautonia Peak is on the left.
Joshua Trees as far as the eye can see. Not something you would expect in this very arid environment.
The Joshua Trees here are a bit different than the ones you might find somewhere else. The ones at Joshua Tree National Park tend to grow taller with less arms, while these are shorter with a bunch of arms making them look even more like trees.
This area was originally settled by miners. Ruins of mines can still be found throughout the park.
Like this filled in mine shaft. There are a few more in this area.
Some wonderful views from near the top of the peak.
Top of Teautonia Peak. I didn’t quite make it there because of the rain clouds.
Last but not least, the salt flats near Zzyzx, California. Yes, that is actually a place.
Mojave National Preserve is one of my favorite National Parks. It was just so remote and empty. I really enjoyed only encountering two people on the trail that I hiked. I haven’t had that since my time at Acadia National Park. This park was fantastic, and I need to go back.
Check out my next update where I visit Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks!
