Mojave Road Guide
- Jens Brown
- 20 hours ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 5 minutes ago
History and Desert Overland Routes
The Mojave Road has shown up in several of our trips across eastern California and southern Nevada, sometimes as the main route and sometimes
as one piece of a much larger desert crossing. Over time, those trips have built into a useful collection of videos and articles covering the road itself, the surrounding mining districts, the Colorado River, Afton Canyon, Cima, Nelson, and the many backcountry tracks that connect them. This page brings those resources together in one place.
If you are researching the Mojave Road, planning a trip through the region, or simply trying to understand how the historic route fits into the larger desert, this is a good place to start. Below you will find a short history of the Mojave Road, an overview of some of the trips that have crossed or connected with it, and direct links to the related video series and articles.
The individual trip stories stand on their own, so I am not going to repeat every stop here. Instead, this page focuses on the bigger picture: why the Mojave Road developed where it did, how the surrounding terrain shaped travel across the desert, and how our different routes have intersected with that history from several directions.
Some trips followed portions of the Mojave Road more closely. Others used mining roads, washes, dry lakes, river corridors, and desert tracks to connect Southern California with Nevada. Taken together, they offer several different ways to look at the same landscape, from historic travel routes to modern off-road crossings.
The Mojave Road as a Line Through the Desert
It is easy to think of the Mojave Road as a historic four-wheel-drive trail, particularly now that it is commonly traveled as a multi-day backcountry route. But the road is really the latest recognizable version of a much older transportation corridor.
Long before military wagons or mining traffic crossed the Mojave, Indigenous travelers moved between communities along the Colorado River and the Pacific side of Southern California. Their routes connected dependable springs and water sources across a landscape where access to water determined where meaningful travel was possible.
That part of the history becomes easier to understand after spending time on the ground. The route rarely feels arbitrary. Passes lead through mountain barriers. Springs appear near places where long stretches of dry country finally narrow toward water. Afton Canyon provides a natural passage along the Mojave River. Fort Piute sits where Piute Spring created one of the essential water stops on the eastern side of the crossing. What looks on a map like a line across empty desert is really a chain of practical decisions made around terrain and water.
Layers of Travel Along the Same Corridor
European and American travelers later followed many of those same pathways. Spanish missionary Francisco Garcés crossed the desert with Mojave guides in 1776. Jedediah Smith used part of the corridor in the 1820s, and John C. Frémont passed through during the following decades.
After the Southwest became part of the United States, portions of the route were surveyed and improved for wagon travel. Fort Mojave was established near the Colorado River in 1859, and military posts and outposts helped support movement across the desert. Soldiers, mail carriers, miners, ranchers, emigrants, equipment, and supplies all eventually passed through the corridor.
Railroads changed that pattern during the late nineteenth century. Once faster transportation crossed the region, the old wagon road lost much of its importance as a through route. Individual sections continued serving mines, ranches and local travel, while others gradually faded.
Driving the Mojave today, traces of those different periods overlap. An old military corridor can become a ranch road. A mining track can join a section of the historic route. Modern recreation traffic follows roads that once existed because somebody needed access to water, ore, livestock, or a distant settlement. That overlap is one of the things I notice more after each trip.
Returning to the Same Desert
Our first Mojave trips were more focused on individual destinations and trail systems. Nelson led naturally into the mining history of southern Nevada. Fort Piute made the military history of the Mojave Road more visible. Afton Canyon showed how geology and water shaped the western approach. Cima and the surrounding high desert demonstrated how much elevation changes what most people casually describe as a single desert landscape.
The longer crossings connected those individual places. Traveling north from Parker Dam toward Nelson made the Colorado River feel like part of the route rather than simply a boundary on the map. Crossing from Los Angeles toward Las Vegas on dirt made the Mojave Road feel like one piece of a much larger transportation landscape.
After several trips, I find that distinction more interesting than simply saying that we have "driven the Mojave Road." The road matters, but so do all the routes feeding into it, crossing it, replacing it and continuing beyond it.
The Mojave Road Today
The recognized Mojave Road now runs roughly 150 miles across the desert, with much of it passing through Mojave National Preserve. For four-wheel-drive travelers it remains one of the clearest ways to see how geography controlled movement through this region.
The experience is not defined by one major obstacle. It is the cumulative effect of distance, sand, washes, mountain crossings, changing surfaces, limited services and the need to understand where you are in relation to water, weather and possible exits.
That remains true even when the Mojave Road is only part of a larger trip. On our Parker Dam-to-Nelson crossing, it linked the Colorado River to a much longer network of desert roads. On the Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas trip, it became part of an eastbound route that began well outside the traditional Mojave Road corridor and continued beyond it into southern Nevada.
Those trips are different enough to stand on their own, which is why the individual articles and videos go deeper into each route. Viewed together, however, they show the same desert from several directions and several periods of its transportation history.
Where to Start
For the Mojave Road itself, begin with Crossing the Mojave Desert | 150+ Miles on the Mojave Road.
For a longer run linking the Colorado River, Fort Piute, Lake Mohave, and Nelson, watch 280 Miles Across the Mojave Desert.
For the widest view of the region, Los Angeles to Las Vegas on Dirt uses the Mojave Road as one part of a larger crossing through mining country, dry lakes, volcanic terrain, and southern Nevada.
After several trips through this country, I have stopped thinking of the Mojave Road as a trail with a neat beginning and end. It is one surviving piece of a much older network, shaped first by water and terrain, then reused by nearly everyone who needed to cross the desert.
Planning the Mojave Road
The road is not defined by one major obstacle. The challenge comes from distance, changing surfaces, weather, and limited services. If you need help contact me!
Expect sand, rocky trail, washes, dry lakebeds, water crossings, and rough backcountry roads. High clearance and four-wheel drive are appropriate for many sections, but conditions matter as much as vehicle capability.
Carry enough water and fuel for delays. Plan for tire repair and recovery. Cell coverage can disappear for long stretches, so navigation and communications should not depend on a phone signal.
Fall through spring generally offers the best temperatures. Summer heat adds significant risk, while winter can bring freezing nights and occasional snow at higher elevations.
Most importantly, do not assume our videos show what the road looks like today. A storm can rework a wash, deepen sand, raise water in Afton Canyon, or make Soda Lake unsuitable for travel.
Road surfaces and access conditions can change because of weather, wildfire, erosion, maintenance, and seasonal closures. Confirm current conditions before entering the route.
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