We left off in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the afternoon. We had taken Highway 93 south of Las Vegas to get to Joshua Tree National Park a couple days earlier, so I had planned to take this highway to get to the Mojave National Preserve on our way back through Las Vegas. No sense in seeing the same scenery twice!
Day Six: Part Two
Tuesday, June 4th, 2019
Mojave National Preserve
We entered the Mojave National Preserve right after crossing Interstate 40 and continued our drive through the boonies on Kelbaker Road. There were signs warning us to watch out for the desert tortoise, but we did not see any. Apparently, they do wander into the road sometimes and they look like rocks when they sit down on the road. I wish we had seen one.
Kelso Depot Visitor Center
Our only planned stop for the Mojave National Preserve was the Kelso Depot Visitor Center, which turned out to be closed on Tuesdays in June when we were there. That was a bit of a bummer, but we were able to peek in the windows to see what it looked like inside.
I don’t know why I didn’t check their schedule beforehand. I’m guessing that I assumed all national parks would be open every day and didn’t dig any deeper. Ooops! I guess it would not have mattered since we would not have had time to stop on our way to Joshua Tree National Park earlier in the trip. It might have even been closed for the day by the time we went through that day, too. Either way, it was not meant to be. We enjoyed the grounds and were happy to find the restrooms were still open.
The grounds and building were like a beautiful little oasis in the desert. There was a gorgeous desert willow in full bloom near the parking lot. Lush green grass surrounded the visitor center. We were amazed by the huge untrimmed palm trees…and amused by the sign that explained why there was a patch of manicured green grass in the desert. There’s always something new to see and historic grass was definitely something we had not seen in our previous travels.
Even though we did not get to go inside the visitor center, I’m glad we stopped to take a look around. I’m also really glad we were able to drive through the Joshua tree forest on Kelso-Cima Road in June 2019 because it no longer looks the same. In August of 2020, the Dome Fire, caused by a lightning strike, destroyed much of the forest, burning over 43,000 acres and 1.3 million Joshua trees.
When we were there, the Joshua tree forest in Mojave National Preserve was considered the largest Joshua tree forest in the world, even bigger than that of Joshua Tree National Park. The trees were bigger and fuller-looking than those in the national park. The forest itself was dense with trees and vegetation.
At the time, I wished we had gone that way on both the drive to and from Joshua Tree National Park, just to see them twice. It was amazing. Had I known they’d be gone a year later, I maybe would’ve made sure we saw them twice. At least we have pictures…
Seven Magic Mountains
The desert holds many oddities, including the art installation called Seven Magic Mountains. This was something we would’ve liked to have stopped at, but it was closed for refurbishment. Megan captured this shot on our way by. Normally, these stacks of boulders are bright neon colors, but they had just been power washed and were in the process of being primed in white.
Las Vegas, Nevada
We were making pretty good time on our drive, and our campsite for the night was reserved, so we decided there was enough time to go have a look at the Fabulous Las Vegas sign.
It wasn’t too tough to find, but the parking situation was tricky to get into. We also noted the very thorough signage warning us to lock our vehicle and keep valuables out of sight. Don’t get robbed while waiting in line for a picture of a sign…what a way to welcome folks! Ha!
We took one look at the line and decided that we did not have time for that. We took a few pictures of the sign and chuckled at the Elvis impersonator who was hanging out nearby. I can’t imagine standing around in the hot sun all day dressed as Elvis.
After our quick pitstop to see the sign, we decided that maybe we also needed to see the Vegas Strip. It was still daylight, and I had never been to Vegas before, so I figured we could at least go have a quick look around.
I really wanted to stop and get out for a walk around the Bellagio Fountain, but I could never figure out where to park. We circled the block several times and then decided that this would need to be a driving tour of Vegas. I gave Joey my phone and told him to take pictures of anything interesting so I could see what I missed while driving. He and Megan snapped pictures while I drove us up one way and back the other.
Here’s a little collage of mostly Joey’s photos of Las Vegas, with a few of Megan’s photos tossed into the mix. Tap on any photo to see it bigger.
We spotted a box truck that advertised shows on three sides, like an electronic moving billboard. That has to be about the best way to advertise with all of the traffic on that street! Definitely not something we see at home in South Dakota! Then again, there’s probably more people on the Strip in Las Vegas than there are in the whole state of South Dakota!
Our tour of Las Vegas took us all of 45 minutes. I probably don’t need to go back.
I’ve seen a some travel videos that make a few places look fun, but I think if I were going to Las Vegas, it would be much, much easier to simply fly directly there, take a shuttle to a hotel, and then walk around for the duration of the stay. Getting around with a vehicle was time-consuming, considering we pretty much went down one street and back out the same way and it took us 45 minutes to do that. It was super fun to see it once, just to say we did! It, too, reminded me of an oasis, but in a different way.
Virgin River Gorge
It didn’t take long to escape the Las Vegas traffic and soon we were in Arizona. We went back through the beautiful Virgin River Gorge again and this time Megan got some photos of it so I could see what I missed while driving…the theme of the day, apparently.
Photos don’t really do it justice, but it kind of reminded me of what it might look like if one could drive through the Grand Canyon at the bottom. The rock formations are similar.
That little corner of Arizona didn’t last long and then we were back in Utah. We stopped in Saint George for another round of Culvers to go, because why not? By the time we arrived at our campsite in Snow Canyon State Park, we had lost an hour going into Mountain Time and it was dark. Setting up the tent in the dark was nothing new for us, though, so we were set up and ready for bed in no time.
It had been a very long day. We hiked two hours in the morning, shopped for shirts at one visitor center, did Junior Rangers at another visitor center, peeked in the windows of a third visitor center, drove 5.5 hours with a couple time zone changes…and did Las Vegas in 45 minutes. We were too tuckered out for night photography, and it was supposed to be hot the next day, so we went to sleep instead.
Find out what this campsite looks like in the next installment of our journey. We’ll be up and at ‘em early for a hike or two and then it’s back on the road again!