Mojave National Preserve

 Mojave National Preserve is located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California. Natural features include the Kelso Dunes, the Marl Mountains and the Cima Dome, as well as volcanic formations such as Hole-in-the-Wall and the Cinder Cone Lava Beds. Impressive Joshua tree forests are found in parts of the preserve. The forest covering Cima Dome and the adjacent Shadow Valley is the largest and densest in the world. The ghost town of Kelso is found in the preserve, with the defunct railroad depot serving as the Visitor Center.

It is about an hour drive from Las Vegas. As I always do, I had made plans well ahead of all the places that I would visit and this was one of the items in my list. We all love dunes in my family. So, Kelso dune was a place we weren't going to miss. I also wanted to check out the Joshua trees, something that is very unique of this part of the world. I had never seen one before but heard plenty about it. 

On the way to the preserve:

The Joshua trees in the preserve:

Part of the ghost town that was a mining town sometime in the past.

The Dunes: It is a bit of a walk from the parking lot. Just reaching the foot of the dunes can take about an hour. It is not easy to walk fast on the sand. If the goal is to climb up the dunes to the peak then one must plan to be there for about three hours. When we went there it was hot, almost barren with the exception of maybe three or four visitors. I wanted to go all the way to the peak but nobody else in my family agreed to. We went close to the foot of the dunes  and came back. Very nice place to be.  

We found this car parked in the parking lot. Interesting drawing.

The Lava Rocks:

We tried driving close to the Lava Rock using this dirt road. Unfortunately the road was so terrible that we couldn't drive faster than  5 miles per hour (two wheel drive). After going just half a mile we stopped, took pictures and turned around. 

On our way back to Las Vegas: