The East Mojave: A Rare Jewel : Outdoors: A few hours from Los Angeles is an undiscovered gem, the ‘Lonesome Triangle,’ bounded by highways. The land is easy to like, but hard to get to know.

Just a few hours from Los Angeles is a virtually undiscovered gem of the desert, sometimes referred to as “The Lonesome Triangle.”

The 1.5 million acres within that triangle, bounded by Interstate 15 on the north and Interstate 40 to the south, Barstow on the west and Needles on the east, is the East Mojave National Scenic Area. It’s a land of great diversity--of grand mesas and mountain ranges, sand dunes and extinct volcanoes. It’s a land that’s easy to like, hard to know.

In recent years, the East Mojave has frequently been in the news during controversies over mining and off-road vehicle use. And it’s in the news now because a provision of the California Desert Protection Act before Congress that calls for transferring administration of the area from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to the National Park Service and renaming it Mojave National Park.

How best to protect this area will be debated for years to come. But for now, at least, visitors who venture into the East Mojave will discover a desert like no other.

The bureau has begun to realize its role in making the area more accessible. The agency has upgraded campgrounds, increased ranger patrols and installed some new interpretive displays; it is also creating a few hiking trails.

Whether you’re a bird watcher or a bicyclist, photographer or rock hound, amateur astronomer or all-star at relaxing outdoors, if you’re longing for wide-open spaces away from it all, head to what’s often called the crown jewel of the California desert. Autumn is a perfect time to explore the heart of the Mojave, the East Mojave National Scenic Area.

An introductory tour of the East Mojave takes in its most popular sites: Kelso Depot and Kelso Dunes; the newly designated Back Country Byway along Black Canyon Road, and the campgrounds at Hole-in-the-Wall and Mid-Hills.

Directions to the scenic area are available at the California Desert Information Center in Barstow (see end of story).

Once you sample these destinations, you’re likely to return again and again to discover more.

The Spanish-style depot was built by Union Pacific in 1924. This distinctive 50-by-150-foot, two-story wooden structure was designed with a red-tiled roof, graceful arches and a red brick platform. It featured several small rooms that provided overnight accommodations for railroad employees, a telegraph office, a restaurant nicknamed the Beanery and a waiting room for passengers.

The depot stayed open through the mid-1980s, although it ceased to be a railroad stop for passengers after World War II. Visitors picnicked on the lawn, dined at the restaurant and generally enjoyed the Mediterranean ambiance of the charming building. When Union Pacific officials decided to demolish the historical building in 1985, local citizens, government officials, environmentalists and a host of others formed a coalition to fight the plan.

The group, known as the Kelso Depot Fund, saved the depot and continues to work for its preservation and restoration. The depot may one day be used as a visitor information center for the East Mojave. Other plans include opening it as a restaurant, a conference center or railroad museum.

Migratory birds stop here because of the water; the manicured lawn and cottonwood trees provide an oasis-like feeling.

And the historic architecture lends elegance to the once-again tiny town of Kelso with a population of two dozen. Freight and passenger trains still rumble through town, but they no longer stop there.

Kelso Dunes

Take Kelbaker Road seven miles from Kelso Depot to a signed dirt road and turn west. Drive three miles to the BLM parking area.

One of the more spectacular sights in the East Mojave is Kelso Dunes. This 45-square-mile formation of magnificently sculpted sand dunes is the most extensive dune field in the West. Some dunes tower higher than 700 feet.

Kelso Dunes are called “booming dunes” for the low vibrational sounds that are created when the sand, made of polished grains of quartz, slides over the underlying surface. The low rumbling has been compared to the sound of a chorus or of a kettle drum.

The Kelso Dunes have been closed to off-road vehicles since 1973, so they’ve been relatively protected from the kind of damage that has reduced some of California’s dune formations to barren piles of sand. More than 100 varieties of plants live on or near the dunes, including sand verbena, desert primrose, mesquite, creosote and native grasses. Dune-dwelling animals include several species of birds, rodents, sidewinders, lizards and kit foxes.

The Kelso Dunes provide a fine vantage point from which to see the East Mojave. But getting to the top of the shifting sands requires some hard work. Take your time and enjoy the experience; it’s not every day you get to play in a giant sandbox.

Hole-in-the-Wall

Although the location of the small campground is pleasant enough to attract campers, bird watchers and others who just want to stay put, more adventurous types find the highlight of a trip to Hole-in-the-Wall is exploring the volcanic formation that forms its backdrop.

Hole-in-the-Wall is the kind of place Butch Cassidy and his gang might have used as a hide-out. Hikers once used ropes and ladders to descend into Banshee Canyon from the campground; today you can use two sets of iron rings set into the rock. Maneuvering through the rings is not particularly difficult for those who are reasonably agile and take their time. Acrophobes or claustrophobes may want to pass.

Enjoy exploring the volcanic rock formations known as rhyolite, a crystallized form of lava. The holes provide frames for taking silly photographs of your companions. This is a place where you can easily laze away an afternoon, gazing into the sky at the circling raptors; golden eagles, hawks and owls are frequently spotted here.

Wildhorse Canyon

In July, Wildhorse Canyon Road, which loops from Hole-in-the-Wall campground to Mid-Hills campground, was declared the nation’s first official Back Country Byway by Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan.

Beginning at Hole-in-the-Wall, the 11-mile horseshoe-shaped road crosses wide-open country dotted with cholla and (in season) delicate purple, yellow, white and red wildflowers. Dramatic volcanic slopes and flat-top mesas tower over this low desert.

This is open country, reminiscent of the Old West, complete with barbed-wire fences, sagebrush, range cattle, windmills and views that go on forever. Proceeding northward on the road, you encounter a landscape of sagebrush, then a pinyon-juniper woodland.

The road takes travelers from the 3,500-foot level at Hole-in-the-Wall to mile-high Mid-Hills. Watch how the scenery changes with the elevation. If you’re very lucky, you’ll spot deer or even a bighorn sheep on the rocky slopes.

Mid-Hills Campground

This isolated campground’s location appeals to those wanting to get away from it all. It’s easy to reach, but feels as if it’s miles from nowhere, with more than two dozen well-spaced campsites. At the north end of the campground, looking northwest, is the East Mojave’s best view of Cima Dome, the 75-square-mile formation of uplifted once-molten rock.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Mid-Hills area is the dominant plant life--the pinyon pine-juniper forest. During Pleistocene times, a few hundred thousand years ago, these cone-bearing trees flourished throughout the Mojave. As the weather became more arid, the range of these trees was restricted to higher elevations, which provided sufficient precipitation for their growth.

The tall, fragrant pines that are so prominent in this area were once an important food source. At this time of year, when the nuts would ripen and become plentiful, the Chemehuevi, Piute and other native people traveled to the higher elevations of the desert to collect pine nuts, an important staple in their diet.

More Information

For more information about the East Mojave National Scenic Area, contact the Bureau of Land Management at the California Desert Information Center, 831 Barstow Road, Barstow, Calif. 92331; (619) 256-3591. (Take the Central Barstow exit off Interstate 15.) Maps, brochures and campsite and lodging information are available.

In a cooperative venture with a number of conservation groups, the BLM recently assisted in the production of an informative map of the East Mojave. Called “A Recreation Guide to the East Mojave National Scenic Area,” the map details more than two dozen popular sites. It’s available at the information center or by mail for $3.50 (this includes postage) from Olympus Press, P.O. Box 2397, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93120.

DAY HIKE

Afton Canyon is another must-see in the East Mojave. F20