From Death Valley, we moved on down the road to Mojave Desert National Preserve. Our first “wow” was seeing all the Joshua trees in the park. We had learned from a Death Valley ranger that Mojave has the largest Joshua tree forest in the world. (This is really quite impressive until you remember that they are native only to this tiny part of California.) But to be fair, there were tons of Joshua trees.
Joshua trees were everywhere. They are some weird cross between a tree and a cactus.
We stopped in at the Kelso Depot Visitor Center where a park ranger told us of a few great spots we could drycamp in. The depot was worth stopping at just for the depot itself. It is a historical site that has been converted into the visitor center. It also had a nice jail in front which could come in handy with cheeky kids.
Our first choice was right next to Kelso Sand Dunes. We were lucky to find no one else camped there. We were also lucky in that we fit in the spot. Our views of the sand dunes (let’s call them what they were: mountains) were exceptional. We decided we would climb them the next morning since it was already pretty hot.
The dunes at sunset were spectacular!
So we set off to see the lava tubes in the northern end of the preserve. A five mile washboard road was worth it when we finally arrived the tubes.
I’ve seen recently that other civilizations have used lava tubes in the past as housing. It was pretty incredible to see how the earth could create such a fantastic geological shape to move around in.
Lava tube!
The next morning, Keali and I were off to climb the sand mountain. It took us over and hour and a half to get to the peak. The main reason we wanted to climb the dunes was to experience the “booming”. The sand is such a quality that when at the top of a dune, walking will cause the sand to slide down and rub against other particles making a deep “boom” sound with easy step.
I tried to video it but none of them came out. It was pretty cool though and Keali had a great time making booms with her hands. The climb was incredibly high, but we made it. Coming down from the dunes was the most fun (obviously).
The drop off of the dune was just beside her.
Later that day, we headed to the other side of the preserve to climb the Ring Trail. I couldn’t help but laugh as Caden stiffly navigated the trail in fear of rattlesnakes. He refused to walk in front so that the snakes would bite Keali instead of him.
Needless to say, we didn’t see snakes, but the cacti were in bloom and the rings were fun, albeit challenging, to climb.
Climbing the rings
The petroglyphs were exciting to see as well.
Our final morning was spent seeing the cute kit fox family that moved in right next to the RV.
They stayed like this for over an hour. Kitty wanted in on the action too.
We learned about how they mate and stay together while raising the young. Our little family consisted of the mom, dad, and two baby foxes. Super cute!
We left knowing that while the Mojave Desert wasn’t a national park, it would rank up as high as any of the parks we would go to.