Mojave Road Historical Run

Mojave Road Historical Run
March 30 – April 2, 2016
Submitted by Laura Whittington
Participants:
John and Wendy Cary, Rich and Corkey Wohlers, John Jr. and Makala Cary, Mike and Laura Whittington
Dogs: Nova, Phoebe, Marley
First day the group met up at Avi Casino near Needles California. At 12:30 we started the Mojave Road where it originally started at the Colorado River directly across the river from were Fort Mojave once stood nearly 160 years ago. 5 miles in, Mike took the wrong path to the left around a thicket of brush and promptly got stuck on a ledge. With a bit of shoveling to smooth the break-over and a tow strap he soon was back on track. A short time later at the lunch stop found John Jr. with a flat tire, caused by a piece of metal. After eating and John putting on his spare, we walked a short distance and checked out a dry waterfall and the surrounding petroglyphs. Nice to get the mishaps over early in the trip!

We set up camp at Piute Canyon Overlook. While Wendy and Laura watched Nova and Marley, the rest of the group took the 2.5 mile round trip hike down the canyon to Fort Piute. The canyon was beautiful. Unfortunately access to the fort was blocked by heavy overgrowth and steep canyon walls. The night was chilly but uneventful.

Day 2 saw us heading to Indian Hill to check out the petroglyphs. The hill and surrounding rocks were covered with them. John Jr. got some work done taking some really nice shots of his RC car on the rocks. Back on the road, we continued on, stopping to make the obligatory offerings to the Coin Can.
Lunch stop was at an abandoned stone house. The stones used on the outside were diverse and very interesting. Mike marked it as a potential alternate campsite.
We stopped to check out Rock Spring, Bert Smith’s house and Government Holes. Camp Rock Spring was the third Military Fort heading west along the Mojave Road. While looking for petroglyphs near the spring, Mike noticed a message written on the canyon wall “Stuart 4th Inf. May 16” The year was worn away.

We set up camp for the night at Mid Hills campground. The pit toilets were a welcome sight. The campground and surrounding area were beautiful despite the old burn scars.

Something that should be on everyone's bucket list is to experience an actual Joshua tree forest. The wild, beautiful weirdness of it is hard to describe and really needs to be seen firsthand, especially in the spring when the trees are in bloom. They look like they are reaching up to offer their blossoms to the sun. You've got to see it!

Day 3 the group set out driving on the road heading for Marl Springs, the lava tubes and the Kelso Train Depot. Along the way we passed through fields of Mojave yucca, with the yuccas all dressed in their finest blossoms. An amazing sight.

Marl Springs was our next stop along the road. This was another of the vital reliable watering stops along the road so many years ago. The Army had an outpost here in the 1800s and when gold was discovered on the site a small two stamp mill was constructed. Not much remains now. There’s a corral and a cistern for holding water from the spring for livestock and desert animals to use. You can also see the original foundation from the stamp mill next to the remnants of an arrastra used for grinding precious metal ore to aid extraction of the mineral.

We all signed in at the "mail box" and left a trail mix granola bar marked courtesy "OTR". Wendy left a 'token of love' (a silver stone with LOVE carved on it). Following the small rock arrows behind the mail box, we came to a very eclectic set of groupings in the middle of nowhere: collections of frogs, bobble heads, gnomes, and (of course) toy Jeeps.

We set out again for our next stop- the lava tubes. On a side note, this is a very interesting area. The Mojave is considered an active volcano field (if there has been an eruption within the last thousand years, it is considered active) and is surrounded by several cinder cones. We went down a ladder into a tube. It was awesome! The drips and flows of the ancient lava made up the walls and ceiling. Shafts of sunlight coming through openings compelled Mike to try either beaming up or following the light, but unfortunately neither worked. John Jr. offered up his poor dog Phoebe, luckily that didn't work either.

From the tubes we headed to Kelso Train Depot only to find Kelbaker Road was closed for repairs. We said goodbye to John and Wendy there (John had track meets to time in Agoura on Saturday) and the rest of the group headed to Soda Lake, collecting our rocks to put on Travelers Monument, a big pile of rocks in the middle of the dry lake bed. Just before the Monument we passed a buck-naked man sunbathing on the lake floor. He was kind enough to start putting on his shorts as the first of our vehicles drove by. Ah, the plethora of diverse sights in the desert....
We made camp at Razor and spent a very pleasant, quiet night.

On day 4 we were hoping to make it to the Desert Megaphone. After driving the trucks through some fairly deep sand, we made it to Crucero “the crossing” along the UPRR tracks. This is where 100 years ago, the Tonopah and Tidewater RR crossed the UPRR tracks. Our GPSs indicated a track crossing here but unfortunately, no crossing existed that we could find except for an underpass that was too low to get the trucks through. The closest place to cross was at the Afton Canyon trestle which would have meant a lot of backtracking; the megaphone would have to wait for another trip. 'Moses' Mike led the group through the sand dunes and back to the road in the Mojave River floodplain and on to Afton Canyon. Near the end of the Mojave Road in Afton Canyon we got to enjoy a few water crossings. The water at one of the crossings was just slightly below the door openings! Everyone made it across easily.

We officially left the trail at 12:00 noon. Mileage total was 175. We all headed to Peggy Sue's for lunch and gas then parted company for the trip home. Fantastic scenery, interesting history, and great friends makes for a truly memorable trip!