The Mojave Desert covers 43,750 square miles, primarily in southeastern California and southern Nevada, and contains four national park units: Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National Preserve, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Although we had driven by Mojave National Preserve several times, it was the only one we hadn’t visited. We decided it would make a nice little getaway for Thanksgiving 2020.

There is plenty of dispersed camping in the preserve and we planned on camping in our truck camper (OverlandX). We appreciated having the heater at nighttime when it was chilly (the days were sunny and pleasant when the wind wasn’t blowing like crazy). We arrived in the preserve Wednesday night and found a spot to camp off Kessler Peak Road. It was a little eerie driving some of these remote roads at night - we kept seeing dead Joshua trees that looked spooky in the headlights and were wondering what in the world happened. We would learn more about these Joshua tree graveyards the next day.

Steve was up early on Thanksgiving morning to hike Kessler Peak and when he got back we drove the short distance to the Teutonia Peak trailhead. This hike at the edge of Cima Dome is an easy one - around 3 miles round trip with 700 feet elevation gain (Teutonia Peak is 5,755 feet). The first part of the hike is very gradual through the densest concentration of Joshua trees in the world. I have never seen so many Joshua trees in my life - as far as we could see, it was Joshua trees. Unfortunately, a number of these were burned. Later we were able to look up information and found out lightning started a fire in August of this year. Due to all the fires raging in California that were higher priority, resources couldn’t be spared for this fire and it eventually burned over 43,000 acres and 1.3 million Joshua trees (about 25% of the Cima Dome woodland). One day in particular was damaging as the fire created its own weather and “firenadoes” formed. Thankfully there was minimal impact to wildlife and no human lives were lost. We got an even better look at the expanse of the Joshua tree woodland as we climbed the final part of the trail to the rocky summit.

Next up was a visit to a lava tube five miles off of Kelbaker Road. Although for whatever reason, we didn’t take the easy way there and decided to drive the back way on Mojave Road. It was slow going and by the time we got to the lava tube we regretted our decision to drive Mojave Road. But we got there and it was only a short walk to the lava tube. This area of the park was designated as Cinder Cone National Natural Landmark in 1973 and it contains thirty-two cinder cones, lava flows, and the lava tube we were about to enter. The tube is accessed by a ladder and climbing down through a collapsed hole in the tube’s roof. We had to crouch low to enter, but once inside it was a roomy cavern with some neat sunbeams.

Our final destination of the day was Kelso Dunes where we could camp for the night. We planned to hike at sunrise the next morning and I decided to also check out the dunes before sunset. Unfortunately there were no clouds for sunset, but I still enjoyed the light and shadows on the dunes and how the setting sun lit up the surrounding mountains a nice pink color. We would see pink mountains again the next morning when we hiked up the dunes around sunrise. It was only ~1.5 miles and 600 feet to the top of the tallest dune, but it was quite the slog in the sand. All the sand in the shoes was worth it though because it was a beautiful morning on the dunes (and we had them to ourselves). The wind was blowing strongly and had left the dunes pristine for our hike (and I’m sure it didn’t take too long for our own footprints to be obliterated). When the wind became too much to bear at the top, we quickly made our descent - a lot easier going down!

We originally planned to hike Silver Peak in the afternoon, but were deterred by the strong winds. Instead we drove to the Hole-in-the-Wall area to hike the Rings Trail. Along the way we saw some rock piles we had to stop and check out (also noted there were fire rings - nice campsites!). The Rings Trail is an easy 1.5 mile loop and the highlight is the short section through Banshee Canyon. This is where the Rings Trail gets its name - there are two sections where there are rings bolted into the walls to aid in getting up/down. I loved this section - it was such a unique geologic feature. And Hole-in-the-Wall is such an apt name for this area. Gas pockets trapped in the cooling ash from volcanoes left behind holes that further eroded giving the walls a Swiss cheese look. Nice desert flora and some faint petroglyphs can be seen on the rest of the trail. We had the rest of the day to read and take it easy at camp - we found a spot off of Black Canyon Road for the evening.

For our last day in the park we had planned to hike Fountain Peak, located in the Providence Mountains State Recreation Area (the attraction for this state park is Mitchell Caverns, which are currently closed for Covid). What Steve neglected to tell us was that this was an off trail hike. When we paid our fee at the ranger station and told the guy we were going to hike Fountain Peak, he raised his eyebrow and said the last guy who did that took twelve hours. Hmmm. Well, we set out and it didn’t take long for Norah and I to tap out. The cacti and prickly bushes were not our idea of a fun off trail hike. We cut Steve loose and returned to the truck to read and plot our next move (and take pictures of the payphone. A functioning payphone in the Mojave!). Steve took around four hours for the hike and when he returned he questioned why anyone would do that hike - it was rough terrain. Clearly Norah and I made the right decision. ;) We had a last minute change in plans and decided to drive to Lake Havasu City to get a meal, camp, and do a slot canyon hike the next morning before heading home.

We did get a meal on a patio in Lake Havasu City, but didn’t linger long because the town looked like Covid central. We found a place to camp on BLM land just outside of town and were just falling asleep when we were jolted awake by some big booms. We thought it might have been fireworks, but didn’t see any lights, so figured it was just rednecks setting off bombs in the desert. Lake Havasu was a weird place. But we did get in a great little hike the next morning before driving home. We hiked about five miles on the Crack in the Mountain trail at SARA park (why this hike is also sometimes referred to as SARA’s crack). We followed a wash down to Balanced Rock Cove on Lake Havasu (the yellow trail). While we enjoyed the peaceful cove and watching the American coots in the water, the highlight of the hike was the 0.2 mile slot canyon along the way. It was completely dry for our hike and we had no problems getting down the small dryfall (there was a rope there to help). It was a scenic little slot canyon and we decided to take the same trail back to the parking lot (some people take the blue trail back). It was fun scrambling through the slot and it was a perfect way to cap off our trip.