The Mojave Road
Day 1 - May 2010
It was truly a pleasure to travel the Mojave Road over Memorial Weekend in 2010. I will always treasure this trip as one of my fondest off road memories. It combined isolated travel, rich history, and a sense of the adventure that must have been felt by the early pioneers.
Saturday, May 29, Day 1:
We staged at the Avi Casino in Laughlin, Nevada to begin our trip. Our rigs consisted of Tom, David, and Lawana in their Jeep TJ Unlimited; Jason and Alli in their 4-door Jeep JK; Jeff, Julie, and Sarah in their Jeep YJ; Adam & Teresa in their Jeep TJ Unlimited pick-up; Kyle and Angie in their Jeep Cherokee; Sean and Levi in their Ford Expedition; and Randy and Tyler in their Ford Excursion. Loaded with gear, food, and fuel, we excitedly left the Avi and headed to the trailhead at Mile 3.5.
After airing down and resetting the odometer, David led the way in the TJ Unlimited. Tom navigated the trip using the Mojave Road Guide by Dennis Casebier. If you are even remotely considering this trip, this book is essential. It is amazingly accurate and gives rich historical detail on the entire route. Using our CB radios, we quoted many passages from Dennis’ guide to keep everyone informed on the highlights of the road. We were beginning to get a good feel for the terrain and using Dennis’ guide to navigate when we made our first “side trip” at Mile 10.1 to Balancing Rock.
Balancing Rock is a mile off the Mojave Road but is worth seeing. Large boulders are precariously perched upon a huge slab and it would be an excellent camp site if it wasn’t so close to the trailhead. Balancing Rock is along a cable service road that held an underground phone cable designed for use after a nuclear attack; part of the 1960’s nuclear war scare preparations.
We stopped for lunch at stone ruins known as Fort Piute at Mile 23.7. Fort Piute was a late 1867 bunker used to house U.S. Mail escorts. After lunch, we continued west, stopped at the abandoned school bus, and put our pennies in the Penny Can Tree at Mile 41.4. Despite it being springtime, all of us were amazed at how lush and alive the desert was. Heavy stands of vegetation were everywhere and most of it was in bloom.
As it was getting late, we only stopped briefly at Camp Rock Spring and Government Holes, both critical water stops for early settlers. We dropped off the Mojave Road at Mile 56.3 to head towards our first night’s camp at Mid Hills Campground. Mid Hills offers semi-improved campsites and is @5,000’ elevation. We arrived and set up camp around 7 pm; it was a long day on the trail but a great one.
