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Mojave Preserve

Mojave National Preserve and surrounding region of California

30 posts

Old Dad Mountain Petroglyphs

Old Dad Mountain Petroglyphs

On a cold January day in 2015, I hiked out into the wilderness of the Old Dad Mountains in the Mojave Desert. Just driving out there was a bit of a challenge; the roads were long and rocky. After parking the truck, I hiked up an alluvial and entered into

Fan Mine

Fan Mine

This is a small mine out in the East Mojave. History is vague on this prospect, but it is probably old and reworked a few times. The mine consists of a few short adits, one with a winze filled with crystal clear water and a small stope. Outside the mine

Green Scorpion Mine

Green Scorpion Mine

This is a small prospect I’ve wanted to check out for over a decade. I finally decided to track it down. I didn’t have an exact location, but I had a good idea of where it was. So I went out scouting the hills. I first became interested

Freightwagon Petroglyphs

Freightwagon Petroglyphs

It is a long and lonely walk into the wilderness of the Mojave Desert to get to this isolated petroglyph site. Hidden in the Cinder Cone Lava Beds of California's Mojave Preserve, the Freightwagon site contains a remarkable concentration of rock art. Most of the few hundred petroglyphs

Mojave Car Wash

Mojave Car Wash

This is an interesting little corner of the Mojave. I was surprised to see so many old junked cars out here. It is pretty unusual to see so many in one place, but why are they here? They all seem to be missing their engines and drive-trains. One engine could

Pachalka Springs Petroglyphs

Pachalka Springs Petroglyphs

In 2007, Dan and I came across this petroglyph site while on our way to another site. You never know what you’ll find when you are out exploring. These Desert Archaic petroglyphs don’t show up well on the limestone. They were a surprising find. No directions to this

Cow Cove Petroglyphs

Cow Cove Petroglyphs

In 2008, Alysia and I went on a day trip to check out the petroglyphs at Cow Cove in the Mojave National Preserve. This is Chemehuevi and Mojave country and reminds me of Grapevine Canyon in Southern Nevada. The site was more extensive than I first expected and is well