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Eastern Mojave

Mojave National Preserve and surrounding region of California

46 posts

Stuck on Soda Lake

Stuck on Soda Lake

Oh, so one day, way back in the beginning of 1991, when I was just a young pup, my friend Jim and I were out off-roading in the sand dunes of the Devil’s Playground area out near Baker, California. We had been roaming around the desert all weekend, but

Old Dad Mountain Petroglyphs

Old Dad Mountain Petroglyphs

On a cold January day in 2015, I hiked out into the wilderness of the Old Dad Mountains in the Mojave Desert. Just driving out there was a bit of a challenge; the roads were long and rocky.

Fan Mine

Fan Mine

This is a small mine out in the East Mojave. History is vague on this prospect, but it is probably old and reworked a few times. The mine consists of a few short adits, one with a winze filled with crystal clear water and a small stope.

Green Scorpion Mine

Green Scorpion Mine

This is a small prospect I’ve wanted to check out for over a decade. I finally decided to track it down. I didn’t have an exact location, but I had a good idea of where it was. So I went out scouting the hills.

Peg Leg Smith’s Inscription

Peg Leg Smith’s Inscription

Sometimes, in the desert, you can find what you are looking for. It was already dark by the time we started our drive out into the desert. The sky was completely overcast, and the wind was howling. And after a few hours of driving on the highway, it started to

Freightwagon Petroglyphs

Freightwagon Petroglyphs

It is a long and lonely walk into the wilderness of the Mojave Desert to get to this isolated petroglyph site. Hidden in the Cinder Cone Lava Beds of California's Mojave Preserve, the Freightwagon site contains a remarkable concentration of rock art. Most of the few hundred petroglyphs

Mojave Car Wash

Mojave Car Wash

This is an interesting little corner of the Mojave. I was surprised to see so many old junked cars out here. It is pretty unusual to see so many in one place, but why are they here? They all seem to be missing their engines and drive-trains. One engine could