“Do you recognize any of this?” my co-worker John asked while looking over each of his shoulders as the fleeting desert sun began to dip below the mountains. We had both been wondering if we veered off trail for the last several miles and finally stopped our quads along an intersection with railroad tracks to investigate. Everything we could see was starting to blend together — an endless, flat valley littered with abandoned outbuildings and random heavy equipment surrounded by uniform, treeless hills.
At this point, late in the evening after a full day’s ride, the friendly Jawbone Canyon Store where we stocked up in the morning was sounding pretty good. It was our first riding trip into Southern California’s immense Mojave Desert — but we didn’t really have to worry. We were still on a trail, had plenty of fluids and made the wise decision to visit during the end of March when the desert’s meteorological extremities are subdued. We were happy to encounter pleasant temperatures and a beautiful desert landscape in full springtime bloom.
Nevertheless, we were running low on gas and needed to find our way back to the truck. Lucky for us we weren’t actually lost, but we didn’t know that at the time. Cell phone service and the distant whisper of highway traffic confirmed that we weren’t too far off track. After going on our instincts for a while, to no avail, we phoned a friend who hopped on Google Maps and pointed us in the right direction — a mere five-mile jaunt back to Jawbone Station — the regional gateway to the vast Jawbone Off-Highway Vehicle Open Area.
Timing Is Everything Sometimes picking the right time of the year is everything when planning a getaway to foreign territory. We couldn’t have chosen a better time of year to hit the High Desert.
ATV Sport
Should we have chosen a different time of year, we could’ve expected the occasional snowstorm or the more typical intense heat and (at times) barely-habitable conditions of the Mojave Desert — one of the driest and warmest places on Earth.
As we learned from our own experience, it’s much more than that.
Our first unexpected discovery was the gigantic Koehn Dry Lake shimmering in the distance. It sure looked like water from a sizeable distance, but as we drew nearer its chalky white color gave it away for what it was: a mirage formed by water slowly rising to the surface and carrying salt along with it.
ATV Sport
There’s never enough moisture for standing water, but the mighty Koehn exists as a landmark that can be seen for many, many miles.
Randsburg: A Living Ghost Town Riding two Yamaha Raptor 700Rs, John and I were headed past the Koehn on a rail trail toward Randsburg, California; a “living ghost town” as some people at the BLM office described it. The strong bottom-end power made our pair of Raptors a sporty choice for both long, flat sections with occasional whoops, as well as the extended hill climbs that were later encountered.
ATV Sport
We didn’t know what to expect of Randsburg, but eventually made our way to the top of the hill that overlooked the tiny town with a current population of 80 rugged souls.
The little village is an incredibly unique trailside destination once you actually wind down to town. Perched alongside the bare Rand Mountains, Randsburg is an old mining town with a partially restored main street lined by many old buildings, some still functioning businesses, a church and some storefronts restored solely for appearances.
ATV Sport
We stopped for lunch at the White House Saloon — a late 1800s establishment that’s probably much the same as it was back then, sarsaparilla soda, creaky wood floors, old photographs and all. It’s like a living museum exhibit, which goes back to the town being described to us as a ghost town with a pulse. It’s something to see and we were told the local businesses wouldn’t exist today without the packs of quads, side-by-sides and dirt bikes passing through.
From there, we got down to business blasting our way down some higher-speed trails en route to neighboring Johannesburg, where we could fill our tanks. The gas station had a sign advertising “fresh jerky” 75 miles down the road, which we found a humorous way to convince people to buy gas. Do or die, as they say.
ATV Sport
From Johannesburg’s fun, fast trails we headed back down in the valley toward the bleached lakebed. Without any set destination, we decided to cross the train tracks we followed in the morning and head up into some of the hills visible to the west.
Going Up Traversing such a wide valley can be misleading — as “just over there” turns into a 30-minute ride, or longer. Getting back to the tracks was a satisfying, throttle-pinned experience, and John pointed to an unmarked hillside trail that looked good, right near a small camping area.
“How about that one?”
We began our ascent and stopped at the first flat area to check out the scenery, look at the map and figure out what would come next. After climbing just five minutes we could see for miles, including the dry lake. We weren’t sure which trail we were on, but the continued way up looked appealing, so we decided to proceed and pay close attention to the sites along the way, should we get turned around.
It was the right choice. The higher we climbed, the smaller all our points of reference became and, soon, we had crested the hills and couldn’t see any of the valley’s landmarks. On top, the air was a touch cooler and the elevated landscape was covered in vibrant patches of yellow wildflowers.
ATV Sport
We motored on, looking for Trail 15, but never found it. Instead, we chatted with some roaming college-aged kids in a Jeep, explored some narrow side roads and eventually made it back to the trail that brought us up. Going down was quite a trip, as it seemed much steeper on the way down. Our Raptors rolled their way very slowly down the rocky hillside with the brakes carefully maintaining consistent forward movement. It was slow progress, and the longest I’ve ever driven with the motor turned off — a strange, silent experience.
Back on the rail trail and headed back to Jawbone, the terrain started looking very unfamiliar. Perhaps it was due to tiredness or that we didn’t pay well enough attention in the morning, but we soon lost our bearings and asked a passing motorist who said we were quite far off course. His advice turned out to be dubious after an Internet-equipped friend put us back on track — as previously mentioned.
Day 2 Since about half of our first day in the Mojave took us through a lot of flatlands, we wanted a more high-altitude experience for the second day’s ride and started out in the Jawbone Canyon Open Area near the store and BLM office. No getting lost this time!
In stark contrast with the previous day’s terrain, enclaves of camping riders and countless interwoven trails populate the mountainous Jawbone area. It was like a Choose Your Own Adventure book ( Chooseco, www.cyoa.com) and, for today’s grand finale, we felt like turning to the most exciting ending in the book.
We started by spotting a new trail, deciding it looked like fun and going for it. Off of the main roads, many spurs lead up hills and into small canyons. Some are dead ends, but others are connectors leading to different parts of the Jawbone network.
After checking out several such segments we hopped on a main trail heading north. After miles of unpleasant whoops, we were again surrounded by beautiful silence with lonesome Joshua trees dotting the barren landscape.
After taking a break, we got on trail SC99, which was the dramatic finish we hoped for — wide, smooth trails that allowed us to hang out at the top of our Raptors’ power bands. With two throttles pinned and bright clouds of dust in our wake, we both drifted our way through sweeping hillside corners and down the long, meandering trails.
Most of Trail 99 runs parallel with a portion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct that feeds water to Los Angeles more than 100 miles away. It was interesting to see so much infrastructure and rushing water in the middle of the desert. Back near the campers we cruised up a tall hill to take in the surroundings before loading up our machines. Incredibly powerful winds made it feel like we could spread our arms and glide down to safety, but we withheld the urge. Windmills spun furiously in the distance, and towering power line towers electrified the scene.
What a cool place, this mysterious Mojave Desert.
Back at the Tundra and trailer, we had accrued more than 150 miles in two days of riding, but only felt like we’d seen the tip of the iceberg, or prickly pear cactus in this case. It was our conclusion that Jawbone should be ranked up there with the country’s best ATV riding. It’s certainly a memorable location, and there are unlimited trails so you can get away without dealing with crowded trails or other people, if that’s your thing.
Click here to view a full photo gallery from the rest of the trip.
