Mrs. Mercotan and I will be making a swing thru the Mohave National Preserve this June (yes, we like our deserts hot). Our route will take us from Vegas south thru such scenic towns as Cima, Kelso, and then finally down to Amboy.
Any “must see” sights on the way? Is it worth hiking around the Kelso Dunes in the summer sun, or should we give that a miss? Or perhaps the jaunt into the Amboy crater?
How about a detour to the Providence Mountains recreational area? Are the caves there worth it?
We’ll end up going thru 29 Palms, and eventually stay at a little spa not too far from Joshua tree. The whole plan evolved out of the realization that it was far cheaper to fly to Vegas non-stop and then drive for 4 hours than to try to fly to Palm Springs via 1 or 2 connections, just for the 1 hour drive once we’ve arrived.
So, any Dopers with experience in enjoying that area? What would you suggest we make sure to see?
We enjoy hikes, the desolate scenery, and quiet contemplation (along with surreptitious fooling around at any convenient oases). So the night life of Amboy or Ivanpah is pretty much irrelevant.
One of my favorite places! MNP is, to me, the premier desert park in California.
Teutonia Peak is a nice hike right off of Cima Rd. Cima itself isn’t much of a town, I think there’s a small store/post office there and a couple of derelict buildings.
The visitor center at Kelso is finally open! They’ve done a good job restoring the Depot and setting up the displays. Kelso Dunes are just down the road a bit…I don’t know if I’d recommend climbing the them in the middle of the day. It takes a good hour (at least) to get up to the top of the highest one.
If you’re thinking about visiting Mitchell Caverns from the Cima/Kelso side, make sure to check the road conditions. Depending on what kind of vehicle you have, you might not want to take the Mojave Rd/Black Canyon route. The Caverns don’t have spectacular formations, but they’re worth a stop. They only have 1 tour a day in the summertime. The Hole-in-the-Wall area is pretty cool, too. I haven’t been to that area since the big fire, I wonder what it looks like now.
Amboy is still standing, but I don’t know if anything is open there. What I remember most about Amboy Crater is that the road to the trailhead was very bumpy.
Tell me you are not going to miss the lovely town of Baker (a truly accurate name in the Summer) and miss seeing the world’s tallest thermometer and the Alien Beef Jerky shop, complete with its own flying saucer!
Blondebear, thanks! We’ll check it out. We’re not looking forward to breaking down in the desert in a rental car in June, so we’ll stick to decent roads, methinks! Fetchund, we’ve hiked Morongo before, a lovely place. Interesting to see it after the fire!
movingfinger, I’m not sure we’ll get to Baker, but we’ll investigate the possibility.